Learn a little bit about driving in Brazil and about preterit tenses compared to imperfect tenses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Braden: Hello, and welcome to PortuguesePOD101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Portuguese! |
| Sílvia: I'm Sílvia, and thanks again for being here with us for this Lower Intermediate S1 lesson. |
| Thássia: So Braden, please tell us what we will be learning in this lesson. |
| Braden: In this lesson, you'll be learning we are going to explain how the preterit tense is different from the imperfect tense. |
| Thássia: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Braden: This conversation takes place in the evening at a car accident and it's between the policeman and Sérgio, the driver of the car. |
| Thássia: What's the formality level? |
| Braden: Well, because he is in public and there’s a policeman present, it's formal. |
| Thássia: Thank you! Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| (freio de carro) (sirene) |
| (freio de carro) (sirene) |
| Policial: O senhor está bem? |
| Sérgio: Sim, sim. |
| Policial: O senhor quer que chame um ambulância? |
| Sérgio: Não não. Estou bem. Foi uma batida leve mas vai precisar consertar meu carro. |
| Policial: Então, o que aconteceu aqui, exatamente? |
| Sérgio: Bem, eu ia dobrar à direita e o outro carro ultrapassou o sinal vermelho e bateu no meu carro. Sorte que ele não bateu em outros. |
| Policial: Conversei com ele já. Falou que o sinal dele estava aberto quando ele passou. |
| Sérgio: Bem, todas as pessoas aí podem confirmar que o sinal estava aberto para mim. |
| Policial: Conversei com as testemunhas também e concordam contigo. |
| Sérgio: Ah tá. E aí, o que acontece agora? |
| Policial: Bem o problema maior agora é que ele não tem seguro. |
| Sérgio: Não acredito! |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Policial: O senhor está bem? |
| Sérgio: Sim, sim. |
| Policial: O senhor quer que chame um ambulância? |
| Sérgio: Não não. Estou bem. Foi uma batida leve mas vai precisar consertar meu carro. |
| Policial: Então, o que aconteceu aqui, exatamente? |
| Sérgio: Bem, eu ia dobrar à direita e o outro carro ultrapassou o sinal vermelho e bateu no meu carro. Sorte que ele não bateu em outros. |
| Policial: Conversei com ele já. Falou que o sinal dele estava aberto quando ele passou. |
| Sérgio: Bem, todas as pessoas aí podem confirmar que o sinal estava aberto para mim. |
| Policial: Conversei com as testemunhas também e concordam contigo. |
| Sérgio: Ah tá. E aí, o que acontece agora? |
| Policial: Bem o problema maior agora é que ele não tem seguro. |
| Sérgio: Não acredito! |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| (freio de carro) (sirene) |
| Braden(car accident sounds) (siren) |
| Policial: O senhor está bem? |
| Braden: Are you well sir? |
| Sérgio: Sim, sim. |
| Braden: Yes, sir. |
| Policial: O senhor quer que chame um ambulância? |
| Braden: Do you want to call an ambulance? |
| Sérgio: Não não. Estou bem. Foi uma batida leve mas vai precisar consertar meu carro. |
| Braden: No, no. I'm fine. It was a light hit but someone will have to fix my car. |
| Policial: Então, o que aconteceu aqui, exatamente? |
| Braden: So, what happened here, exactly? |
| Sérgio: Bem, eu ia dobrar à direita e o outro carro ultrapassou o sinal vermelho e bateu no meu carro. Sorte que ele não bateu em outros. |
| Braden: Well, I was turning right and the other car ran the red light and hit my car. Lucky that he didn't hit others. |
| Policial: Conversei com ele já. Falou que o sinal dele estava aberto quando ele passou. |
| Braden: I talked with him already. He said his light was green when he went through. |
| Sérgio: Bem, todas as pessoas aí podem confirmar que o sinal estava aberto para mim. |
| Braden: Well, all the people over there can confirm that the light was green for me. |
| Policial: Conversei com as testemunhas também e concordam contigo. |
| Braden: I spoke with the witnesses also and they agree with you. |
| Sérgio: Ah tá. E aí, o que acontece agora? |
| Braden: Oh, okay. So, what happens now? |
| Policial: Bem o problema maior agora é que ele não tem seguro. |
| Braden: Well the major problem now is that he doesn't have car insurance. |
| Sérgio: Não acredito! |
| Braden: I don't believe it! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter always does a little review about the previous lessons. explain what you are thinking about the storyline in the lesson, so the students can follow and participate - don't make them guess. |
| Braden: Driving in Brazil is always a difficult topic. On paper the laws are almost identical to the USA but in practice things are very different. For example, where I’m from the laws about following too close are very strict so I always leave at least a car length between me and the car in front of me. |
| Thássia: In Brazil, leaving a space like that is an invitation for someone to fill it, and they do. |
| Braden: Whether you’re living in Brazil or just traveling be aware that car insurance is not obligatory in Brazil. |
| Thássia: That means that most of the cars that are flying past you at 50 mph in the school zone are uninsured. |
| Braden: So, if you are renting a car in Brazil. I would strongly urge you to get good car |
| thus far I have never seen a yield sign in Brazil. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Sílvia: ultrapassar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to surpass, to exceed, to pass (driving), to pass over, to overtake |
| Sílvia: ultrapassar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: ultrapassar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: dobrar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to bend, to fold, to turn, to double |
| Sílvia: dobrar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: dobrar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: seguro [natural native speed] |
| Braden: safe; secure; confident; insurance |
| Sílvia: seguro [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: seguro [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: testemunha [natural native speed] |
| Braden: witness |
| Sílvia: testemunha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: testemunha [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: exatamente [natural native speed] |
| Braden: exactly |
| Sílvia: exatamente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: exatamente [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: bater [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to beat, to hit, to strike, to knock |
| Sílvia: bater [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: bater [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: sorte [natural native speed] |
| Braden: luck, fortune |
| Sílvia: sorte [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: sorte [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: concordar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to agree, to consent |
| Sílvia: concordar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: concordar [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Thássia: The first word we’ll look at is “ultrapassar. ” Ultrapassar is the Portuguese word for “overtake.” |
| Braden: But in the dialogue ultrapassar o sinal vermelho was used to mean “to run the red light.” |
| Thássia: In some parts of Brazil the verb furar “to pierce” is also used as in furar o sinal vermelho to mean “to run the red light.” |
| Braden: Ultrapassar is also the verb used when describing when one car passes another on the road, typically in the sense of cutting the other car off. |
| Thássia: Next we’ll look at the expressions dobrar à esquerda and virar à esquerda. Dobrar is the Portuguese verb to mean “to bend,” “to fold” or “to double.” But in this lesson dobrar was used the same way as the verb virar which means “to turn.” |
| Braden: Here, dobrar à esquerda and virar à esquerda have the same meaning “to turn left.” To say “turn right” you use the word direita to make dobrar à direita, or virar à direita. Which phrase you use depends on the person. |
| Thássia: Next we have sinal aberto and sinal fechado. Sinal aberto and sinal fechado respectively translate to “open signal” and “closed signal.” |
| Braden: But in this lesson sinal aberto and sinal fechado were used to mean “green light” and “red light” respectively. |
| Thássia: last we’ll look at the word “seguro” In Portuguese, the word seguro has many meanings. We saw one of the meanings in “seguro do carro” which means “car insurance.” |
| Braden: Also, in the sentence Nós moramos em um prédio seguro the word seguro means “safe,” “we live in a safe building.” The word seguro can also mean “secure” as in este equipamento é muito seguro, “This equipment is very secure.” |
| Thássia: Another meaning for seguro is “confident” as in the sentence o atleta estava seguro which means “the athlete was confident.” Seguro is also the conjugated form of the verb segurar and translates to “I hold” as in the sentence eu seguro a sua mão which means “I hold your hand.” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: The focus of this lesson is the preterit tense vs. the imperfect tense. |
| Thássia: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “Falou que o sinal dele estava aberto quando ele passou.” |
| Braden: Which we translated as “He said his light was green when he went through.” here the verbs falou and estava are examples of the preterit and imperfect past tenses. I should warn you before we get started that this grammar point will be more conceptual as the differences between these two tenses can be hard to negotiate. |
| Thássia: The preterit tense and the imperfect tense are two past tenses in Portuguese. The difference between them can be illustrated by an analogy to two types of cameras - the preterit is like a snapshot (a representation of a single event), while the imperfect is like a movie camera (representing a currently ongoing past action or a repetitive past action). |
| Braden: The following pairs of English phrases give examples of the two past tenses. In the PDF, the verbs in the preterit are oblique and the verbs in the imperfect are underlined, just to make you curious. |
| Thássia: The clock struck twelve. is preterit and It was eleven thirty when Sarah got home. is imperfect. |
| Braden: also The outlaw robbed the bank. is preterit and The outlaw used to rob banks. is imperfect. |
| Thássia: Like in our dialogue example at the beginning of the grammar point, you can have both conjugations in one sentence. For example, Trigger tripped and fell. only has the preterit but While Johnathan was chasing after him, Trigger tripped and fell. |
| Braden: Remember that the preterit represents a single completed action in the past, while the imperfect represents an ongoing action or a background action. |
| Thássia: Some other examples from our dialogue are Então, o que aconteceu aqui, exatamente? – "So, what happened here, exactly?" |
| Braden: o sinal estava aberto para mim. – "the light was green for me." |
| Thássia: So, to review the rules, the imperfect tells what was happening, |
| Braden: recalls what used to happen, |
| Thássia: describes a physical, mental, or emotional state in the past. |
| Braden: or tells the time in the past to set the stage upon which another action was played. |
| Thássia: The preterit is much simpler. The preterit views an event or a series of events as a single completed event in the past, no matter how long it lasted or how many times it was repeated. |
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