Learn about prepositions and personal credit
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Thássia: Braden, please tell us what we’ll be learning in this lesson. |
| Braden: In this lesson, we’ll be learning about a few special verbs that require prepositions. |
| Thássia: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Braden: This conversation takes place in the afternoon at a store where Caio is talking with a saleswoman trying to buy a present for his girlfriend. |
| Thássia: What's the formality level? |
| Braden: Well, the saleswoman will be speaking formally because Caio is a client, but Caio will be speaking informally. |
| Thássia: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| 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. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Vendedora: Boa tarde! |
| Caio: Boa tarde. |
| Vendedora: Posso ajudá-lo? |
| Caio: Eu tô procurando um presente para a minha namorada. Eu pensei em algo de qualidade, que fosse durar. |
| Vendedora: Que tal um relógio? |
| Caio: Hum, relógio seria bom, mas ela não usa relógio. |
| Vendedora: Um perfume! De qual perfume ela gosta? |
| Caio: Perfume? Eu acredito que.. bem, eu acho que... Uma roupa! |
| Vendedora: Eu posso ajudar o senhor a encontrar uma roupa bem bonita para sua namorada. |
| (som de araras movendo) [zipers talvez] |
| Caio: (desappointed) Desculpe moça, eu quero me casar com minha namorada e não consigo nem pensar no que ela gostaria de ganhar no aniversário dela. |
| Vendedora: Bem, neste caso, eu sei algo que toda mulher gosta de ganhar, Uma jóia! E uma jóia muito especial...um anel de compromisso. O que você acha da ideia? |
| Caio: Eu acho que ela vai adorar, será uma grande surpresa! |
| Vendedora: Imagino que o senhor também vai querer levar flores para a ocasião. |
| Caio: Claro, vou querer sim. Muito obrigado moça pela ajuda! |
| Vendedora: Disponha. |
| Caio: Vou agora mesmo para casa pensar no pedido. |
| Braden: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Vendedora: Boa tarde! |
| Caio: Boa tarde. |
| Vendedora: Posso ajudá-lo? |
| Caio: Eu tô procurando um presente para a minha namorada. Eu pensei em algo de qualidade, que fosse durar. |
| Vendedora: Que tal um relógio? |
| Caio: Hum, relógio seria bom, mas ela não usa relógio. |
| Vendedora: Um perfume! De qual perfume ela gosta? |
| Caio: Perfume? Eu acredito que.. bem, eu acho que... Uma roupa! |
| Vendedora: Eu posso ajudar o senhor a encontrar uma roupa bem bonita para sua namorada. |
| (som de araras movendo) [zipers talvez] |
| Caio: Desculpe moça, eu quero me casar com minha namorada e não consigo nem pensar no que ela gostaria de ganhar no aniversário dela. |
| Vendedora: Bem, neste caso, eu sei algo que toda mulher gosta de ganhar, Uma jóia! E uma jóia muito especial...um anel de compromisso. O que você acha da ideia? |
| Caio: Eu acho que ela vai adorar, será uma grande surpresa! |
| Vendedora: Imagino que o senhor também vai querer levar flores para a ocasião. |
| Caio: Claro, vou querer sim. Muito obrigado moça pela ajuda! |
| Vendedora: Disponha. |
| Caio: Vou agora mesmo para casa pensar no pedido. |
| Braden: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Vendedora: Boa tarde! |
| Braden: Good afternoon! |
| Caio: Boa tarde. |
| Braden: Good afternoon. |
| Vendedora: Posso ajudá-lo? |
| Braden: May I help you? |
| Caio: Eu tô procurando um presente para a minha namorada. Eu pensei em algo de qualidade, que fosse durar. |
| Braden: I am looking for a present for my girlfriend. I thought I'd get her something of quality, something that would last. |
| Vendedora: Que tal um relógio? |
| Braden: How about a watch? |
| Caio: Hum, relógio seria bom, mas ela não usa relógio. |
| Braden: Hum, a watch would be good, but she doesn't use a watch. |
| Vendedora: Um perfume! De qual perfume ela gosta? |
| Braden: Perfume! Which perfume does she like? |
| Caio: Perfume? Eu acredito que.. bem, eu acho que... Uma roupa! |
| Braden: Perfume? I believe...Well, I think that...Some clothes. |
| Vendedora: Eu posso ajudar o senhor a encontrar uma roupa bem bonita para sua namorada. |
| Braden: I can help you, Sir, find some very pretty clothes for your girlfriend. |
| (som de araras movendo) [zipers talvez] |
| Braden(clothes sounds, zippers maybe?) |
| Caio: Desculpe moça, eu quero me casar com minha namorada e não consigo nem pensar no que ela gostaria de ganhar no aniversário dela. |
| Braden: I'm sorry young lady, I want to marry my girlfriend and I can't even think of what she would like to get as a birthday present. |
| Vendedora: Bem, neste caso, eu sei algo que toda mulher gosta de ganhar, Uma jóia! E uma jóia muito especial...um anel de compromisso. O que você acha da ideia? |
| Braden: Well, in this case, I know something all women like to get, jewelry. And a very special one, a promise ring. What do you think of the idea? |
| Caio: Eu acho que ela vai adorar, será uma grande surpresa! |
| Braden: I think she will love it; it would be a big surprise. |
| Vendedora: Imagino que o senhor também vai querer levar flores para a ocasião. |
| Braden: I imagine you'll want to take flowers to her for the occasion. |
| Caio: Claro, vou querer sim. Muito obrigado moça pela ajuda! |
| Braden: Of course, I'll want those, yes. Thank you very much for your help young lady. |
| Vendedora: Disponha. |
| Braden: Always, at your service. |
| Caio: Vou agora mesmo para casa pensar no pedido. |
| Braden: I'll go home now and think about the "question." |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: Man he got taken by that sales woman. went from small cheap things to a very expensive ring and then got him to buy flowers too! |
| Thássia: Don’t say that. I think it was a beautiful story. He’s obviously very concerned about it. |
| Braden: Of course he was! I just wanted a lead in to point out that Brazilian salesmen (or saleswomen) are typically very insistent in their sales. |
| Thássia: That’s true. Typically they are paid very little so most of the money they earn is from commissions. |
| Braden: and they will push you until you buy something, or leave. which brings up another important point though. |
| Thássia: What’s that? |
| Braden: What do you buy for your special Brazilian someone? |
| Thássia: hmmm. I like perfume. And clothes. |
| Braden: Ha! Okay then! If any of our listeners are interested Thássia likes perfume, you can send a box here to Brazil. We’ll post our address on the site. Thássia, what’s it like to purchase things in a supermarket in Brazil? |
| Thássia: In Brazil, product information usually isn’t displayed like you're used to in the States. Usually it will have the price (in very big lettering) and the name of the item. |
| Braden: It’s a technique that obligates the customer to go to the salesperson to answer any questions. Many places won’t even let you purchase products unless a salesperson has “signed off” on the sale. |
| Thássia: And especially if it’s a bigger item, like a washer or dryer, they'll have to deliver it to you later. You probably won’t see it for a day or two. |
| Braden: Be careful with that price that’s in big letters though. It’s usually the parcelado price. |
| Thássia: Hmm.. that’s right. Parcelado or parcelamento is the rather complex form of Brazilian personal credit where the store divides the total price into monthly payments. So that nice microwave you’re thinking about buying isn’t really R$70, it’s R$70/month for 10 months or R$700. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Camila: relógio [natural native speed] |
| Braden: clock, watch |
| Camila: relógio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: relógio [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: namorada [natural native speed] |
| Braden: girlfriend |
| Camila: namorada [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: namorada [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: qualidade [natural native speed] |
| Braden: quality |
| Camila: qualidade [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: qualidade [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: durar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to last |
| Camila: durar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: durar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: anel [natural native speed] |
| Braden: ring |
| Camila: anel [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: anel [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: casar-se [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to marry |
| Camila: casar-se [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: casar-se [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: presente [natural native speed] |
| Braden: present, gift |
| Camila: presente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: presente [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: disponha [natural native speed] |
| Braden: have, arrange, count on (you're welcome) |
| Camila: disponha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: disponha [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: In this lesson we’ll first look at the word durar. Durar is the Portuguese verb to mean “to last.” |
| Braden: In the dialogue Caio said Eu pensei em algo de qualidade, que fosse durar, which we translated as “I thought I’d get her something of quality, something that would last.” |
| Braden: Here we see the usage of the verb durar and another exemple for durar would be Eu pensei que a tempestade fosse durar para sempre, which means “I thought the storm would last for ever.” |
| Thássia: The next phrase we’ll look at is posso ajudá-lo? In the dialogue, we saw the vendor saying posso ajudá-lo? to mean “May I help you?” |
| Braden: This is a very polite way to offer help to some one, you will sound very smart and helpful but not too formal. |
| Thássia: Remember to use posso ajudá-lo? with “o” at the end when offering help to a man and posso ajudá-la? with “a” at the end when offering help to a woman. |
| Braden: Both posso ajudá-lo? and posso ajudá-la? mean “may I help you?” It’s just a matter of grammatical gender. |
| Thássia: Next we have the expression disponha. Disponha doesn’t have a literal translation but, it means something like “I’m at your disposal” or “I’m available to help.” and it is used as a response to thank you. |
| Braden: When someone says obrigado (thank you) and you answer with disponha you show that it was not a problem at all to help and because of this, disponha is a good word to used to sound friendly. |
| Thássia: The last word we’ll look at in this lesson is compromisso. Compromisso literally means “commitment” and in Portuguese it can be used to talk about any commitment or appointment. |
| Braden: If you look carefully at compromisso written, you can see it’s a compound word of com which means “with” and promisso which looks a lot like “promise.” So the idea is that you have already promised that you would do something. |
| Thássia: Be careful though because, compromisso is a false cognate with “compromise.” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Thássia: The focus of this lesson is verbs requiring prepositions. In the dialogue we heard the phrase “De qual perfume ela gosta?” |
| Braden: Which we translated as “What perfume does she like?” Normally when a noun follows a verb in a sentence, only articles can be placed between the verb and the noun. |
| Thássia: For example, eu vou cozinhar o macarrão. translates to “I will cook the pasta.” |
| Braden: Right. Certain verbs, however, require a preposition in front of nouns. For example? |
| Thássia: Vamos mudar de assunto. translates to “Let’s change the subject.” Notice how in the Portuguese the preposition “de” is necessary but in Engish it’s left out. |
| Braden: Another example is the sentence Eles gostam de sorvete de tapioca. which means “They like tapioca ice cream.” We’ve talked about the verb gostar before but just to reinforce it, gostar always needs “de.” |
| Thássia: There are many verbs that require prepositions after them. We’ll take a quick look at 6 of the most common verbs that require prepositions . |
| Braden: First the verb is pensar. in the sentence Eu pensei em algo de qualidade, que fosse durar. The preposition “em” is used in between the verb and the noun, algo. The English would be "I thought about something of quality, something that will last.” English also needs a preposition in the same situation but it’s a different situation. |
| Thássia: Yes. With the verb Pensar we use the preposition “em” not “de” or “sobre.” |
| Braden: the next verb we’ll look at is preocupar-se. in the sentence Não se preocupe com isso, já já vai ser resolvido. the preposition “com” is used with the verb preocupar-se. In English we would use the preposition “about” |
| Thássia: that’s right. the translation would be "I thought about something of quality, something that will last.” |
| Braden: Our next verb is precisar. The verb precisar when followed by another verb doesn’t need any preposition but when it’s followed by a noun you have to use the preposition “de.” |
| Thássia: Right. For example, Eu preciso de um táxi, onde posso pegar? means "I need a taxi, where can I catch one.” The English doesn’t need a preposition but the Portuguese does. |
| Braden: Next we have the sentence Ela vai se casar com ele. which means “She will marry him.” This is another example of the preposition being needed in the Portuguese but not in the english. |
| Thássia: that’s right, the verb casar always needs the preposition “com” with it. |
| Braden: last we have the verb mudar which requires the verb “de” like in the sentence |
| Thássia: Eles vão mudar de empresa. which means “They will change companies.” |
| Braden: Mudar can also use the preposition “para” can’t it ? |
| Thássia: Yes. when you’re talking moving to another place we usually say “Eu vou mudar para Maceió.” or “I will move to Maceió.” |
| Braden: So we have a quick pronunciation tip for you here. |
| Thássia: Yes. Remember that the preposition de has the exact same pronunciation as the letter "g" in English, always. But be aware that sometimes, when it’s at the end of a word it can be de-voiced. |
| Braden: That means the mouth still makes the movement but you stop using your voice, kind of like whispering. This makes words in Brazilian Portuguese sound like they have been cut in half. |
| Thássia: We do this a lot. For example, the word saúde which means “health” has the “-de” at the end so the pronunciation would be “saúd‘g’” but because Brazilians often de-voice the end of the word. |
| Braden: It can sound like “j” but it isn’t it’s “g” without the voice, saúde. It’s good to get this right now because you are doing it right from the beginning instead of trying to correct yourself two years from now. |
| Thássia: Prepositions are very difficult to learn so these rules about when to use them with verb will be very helpful. |
Comments
Hide