Learn how to make comparisons
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Braden: Hello, and welcome to PortuguesePOD101.com, where we study modern Portuguese in a fun, educational format! |
| Thássia: So, brush up on the Portuguese that you started learning long ago, or start learning today. |
| Braden: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson, Thássia, what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Thássia: So Braden, please tell us what we will be learning in this lesson. |
| Braden: In this lesson, we'll be learning how to use comparatives and superlatives. |
| Thássia: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Braden: This conversation takes place in the afternoon at Vitória’s flat? and it's between Vitória, |
| Sandra, Helena, and Bruno. |
| Thássia: What's the formality level? |
| Braden: Well, they are all friends so they'll be speaking casually. |
| Thássia: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Vitória: Sandra, este é meu irmão, Bruno. |
| Bruno: É um prazer conhecê-la Sandra. |
| Sandra: O prazer é meu. |
| Bruno: Vitória, mostra a casa à Sandra enquanto eu pego alguns petiscos. |
| (passos) |
| Sandra: Seu irmão é tão legal. E muito bonito também (haha) |
| (porta abrindo) |
| Sandra: Nossa! De quem são todas essas medalhas e troféus? |
| Vitoria: São do Bruno, ele era o melhor jogador de futebol da escola. Ele também ganhou prêmios jogando vôlei e xadrez, mas ele era mais habilidoso jogando futebol mesmo. Ele era melhor até do que o Augusto, da outra turma, lembra dele? |
| (passos) |
| Bruno: Sirvam-se meninas. |
| sandra: Hum! (coma boca cheia) Que delícia, estes são os salgadinhos mais gostosos que eu já comi! |
| Bruno: Atchin! (espirro) |
| Vitoria: Tá tudo bem, Bruno? |
| Bruno: Tá sim, eu acho que é só alergia. |
| Sandra: Você tem alergia? |
| Bruno: Só a gato. |
| Sandra: Ah.. acho que o espirro foi por minha causa. |
| Vitória: Nossa Sandra, você se acha mesmo né? (risos) |
| Sandra: Não, eu não quis dizer que sou uma gata. É que eu estava brincando com meu gatinho antes de vir. |
| Bruno: Com licença, mas vou ter que sair. (leaves) |
| Sandra: (pensando) Droga! Um homem quase perfeito.. bonito, inteligente, atlético... tinha que ter alergia a gato. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Vitória: Sandra, este é meu irmão, Bruno. |
| Bruno: É um prazer conhecê-la Sandra. |
| Sandra: O prazer é meu. |
| Bruno: Vitória, mostra a casa à Sandra enquanto eu pego alguns petiscos. |
| (passos) |
| Sandra: Seu irmão é tão legal. E muito bonito também (haha) |
| (porta abrindo) |
| Sandra: Nossa! De quem são todas essas medalhas e troféus? |
| Vitoria: São do Bruno, ele era o melhor jogador de futebol da escola. Ele também ganhou prêmios jogando vôlei e xadrez, mas ele era mais habilidoso jogando futebol mesmo. Ele era melhor até do que o Augusto, da outra turma, lembra dele? |
| (passos) |
| Bruno: Sirvam-se meninas. |
| sandra: Hum! (coma boca cheia) Que delícia, estes são os salgadinhos mais gostosos que eu já comi! |
| Bruno: Atchin! (espirro) |
| Vitoria: Tá tudo bem, Bruno? |
| Bruno: Tá sim, eu acho que é só alergia. |
| Sandra: Você tem alergia? |
| Bruno: Só a gato. |
| Sandra: Ah.. acho que o espirro foi por minha causa. |
| Vitória: Nossa Sandra, você se acha mesmo né? (risos) |
| Sandra: Não, eu não quis dizer que sou uma gata. É que eu estava brincando com meu gatinho antes de vir. |
| Bruno: Com licença, mas vou ter que sair. (leaves) |
| Sandra: (pensando) Droga! Um homem quase perfeito.. bonito, inteligente, atlético... tinha que ter alergia a gato. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Vitória: Sandra, este é meu irmão, Bruno. |
| Braden: Sandra, this is my brother, Bruno. |
| Bruno: É um prazer conhecê-la Sandra. |
| Braden: Pleasure to meet you ladies. |
| Sandra: O prazer é meu. |
| Braden: The pleasure is mine. |
| Bruno: Vitória, mostra a casa à Sandra enquanto eu pego alguns petiscos. |
| Braden: Vitória, show them the house while I get some appetizers. |
| (passos) |
| Braden(steps) |
| Sandra: Seu irmão é tão legal. E muito bonito também (haha) |
| Braden: Your brother is so cool. And very cute too. |
| (porta abrindo) |
| Braden(door opening) |
| Sandra: Nossa! De quem são todas essas medalhas e troféus? |
| Braden: Wow! Whose are all these medals and trophies? |
| Vitoria: São do Bruno, ele era o melhor jogador de futebol da escola. Ele também ganhou prêmios jogando vôlei e xadrez, mas ele era mais habilidoso jogando futebol mesmo. Ele era melhor até do que o Augusto, da outra turma, lembra dele? |
| Braden: They're Bruno's, he was the best soccer player at school. He also won awards playing volleyball and chess, but he was always most talented at playing football. He was even better than Augusto, from the other class, do you remember him? |
| (passos) |
| Braden(steps) |
| Bruno: Sirvam-se meninas. |
| Braden: Serve yourselves ladies. |
| sandra: Hum! (coma boca cheia) Que delícia, estes são os salgadinhos mais gostosos que eu já comi! |
| Braden: Yum! (with a full mouth) What a delicacy. These are the most delicious snacks I've ever eaten! |
| Bruno: Atchin! (espirro) |
| Braden: Achoo! |
| Vitoria: Tá tudo bem, Bruno? |
| Braden: Are you okay, Bruno? |
| Bruno: Tá sim, eu acho que é só alergia. |
| Braden: Yes I am, I think it's just allergies. |
| Sandra: Você tem alergia? |
| Braden: You have allergies? |
| Bruno: Só a gato. |
| Braden: Just to cats. |
| Sandra: Ah.. acho que o espirro foi por minha causa. |
| Braden: Ah…I think the sneeze was because of me then. |
| Vitória: Nossa Sandra, você se acha mesmo né? (risos) |
| Braden: Wow Sandra, you think highly of yourself, don't you? (laughter) |
| Sandra: Não, eu não quis dizer que sou uma gata. É que eu estava brincando com meu gatinho antes de vir. |
| Braden: No, I didn't mean I was the cat. It's that I was playing with my cat before coming. |
| Bruno: Com licença, mas vou ter que sair. (leaves) |
| Braden: Excuse me, I need to leave. |
| Sandra: (pensando) Droga! Um homem quase perfeito.. bonito, inteligente, atlético... tinha que ter alergia a gato. |
| Braden: (thinking) Shoot! An almost perfect man. Cute, intelligent, athletic...He had to have a cat allergy. |
| 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: Okay so Thássia what’s going on here. |
| Thássia: Well, they are all getting old now, about 30 something. Bruno is the stereotypical perfect guy with one flaw. |
| Thássia: In Portuguese, it’s atchin |
| Braden: spelled “a-t-c-h-i-n.” and yes I have actually heard people sneeze while saying atchin. |
| Thássia: was it a woman? |
| Braden: Yes. |
| Thássia: She was probably trying to appear delicate. (explain) |
| Braden: An often unexpected category of words you come in contact with at this level is onomatopoeia words. Onomatopoeias are words that imitate sounds like sneezing or dogs barking. For example, when we write that someone sneezed we say, “achoo.” |
| Thássia: In Portuguese, it’s atchin. |
| Braden: Every single onomatopoeic word is different between English and Portuguese. Dogs in English bark, |
| Thássia: in portuguese they say “au au.” |
| Braden: Bells in English say "ding dong" |
| Thássia: in Portuguese they say “blem blem.” |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Camila: habilidoso [natural native speed] |
| Braden: talented, skilled |
| Camila: habilidoso [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: habilidoso [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: petiscos [natural native speed] |
| Braden: appetizers |
| Camila: petiscos [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: petiscos [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: quase [natural native speed] |
| Braden: almost |
| Camila: quase [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: quase [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: prêmio [natural native speed] |
| Braden: prize, award |
| Camila: prêmio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: prêmio [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: troféu [natural native speed] |
| Braden: trophy |
| Camila: troféu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: troféu [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: xadrez [natural native speed] |
| Braden: chess |
| Camila: xadrez [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: xadrez [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: atlético [natural native speed] |
| Braden: athletic |
| Camila: atlético [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: atlético [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: droga [natural native speed] |
| Braden: drug, shoot! |
| Camila: droga [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: droga [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: salgadinho [natural native speed] |
| Braden: appetizer, snack |
| Camila: salgadinho [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: salgadinho [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Camila: mostrar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: show |
| Camila: mostrar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Camila: mostrar [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 in this lesson is turma. Turma is the a word used to define a group of people in the same class at school. |
| Braden: In the dialogue when Sandra said Augusto, da outra turma, which we translated as “Augusto, from the other class” she meant that Augusto was in the same grade as they were but they were not in the same classroom. |
| Thássia: In Brazilian elementary schools, students of the same turma remain in a single classroom while the teachers rotate from room to room. There are normally several groups or turmas per grade. |
| Braden: As it is normal for kids of the same class to become friends, the word turma is often used to talk about a group of friends or sometimes just a group of people. For example, the sentence a turma do volei means “the group of people that plays volleyball.” |
| Thássia: The next phrase we’ll look at in this lesson is se achar. Se achar literally translates to “to find yourself” but is actually means “think highly of yourself.” |
| Braden: It is a very “hip” expression and you’ll probably hear in everyday conversation. In the dialogue, Vitoria said Nossa Sandra, você se acha mesmo né? which we translated as “Wow Sandra, you think highly of yourself, don’t you?” |
| Thássia: In the dialogue there was no problem when Vitoria said that Sandra thought highly of herself because Vitoria and Sandra are friends and Vitoria spoke in a playful tone. But, it is important to pay attention when using this expression not to sound rude because when you say someone “se acha” you might be saying that that person is snobbish or stuck up, so pay attention not to be misunderstood. |
| Braden: Right. Some people se acham just because the have high self-steam not because they are snobbish. |
| Thássia: The next words we’ll look at are gato and gata. Literally, gato and gata mean male and female cat, respectively. |
| Braden: But they are used in slang to mean “good looking man” and “good looking woman”. The sentence eu sou uma gata means “I am very attractive” not “I’m a cat.” |
| Thássia: That was why there was a little joke in the dialogue when Sandra said that Bruno sneezed because of her (her cat) and Vitoria understood that Sandra thought highly of herself. |
| Braden: In the dialogue we saw Bruno saying Sirvam-se meninas to mean “Serve yourselves ladies.” Sirvam-se is a very smart phrase to use to mean “you may eat” or “help yourselves” it gives the idea that the food is there and it’s for you to eat, so start eating. |
| Thássia: And it is a smart phrase so it’s polite phrase but not an old phrase. You won’t sound like your grandma saying for you to eat. |
| Braden: okay so what’s our last word? |
| Thássia: The last word we’ll look at in this lesson is quase. Quase is the Portuguese word for “almost” and it is used the same way. |
| Braden: In the dialogue Sandra said Um homem quase perfeito which we translated as “An almost perfect man.” Quase and “almost” were used the same way. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So, Thássia, what’s the grammar focus of this lesson? |
| Thássia: The focus of this lesson is making comparisons in Portuguese. In the dialogue we heard Ele era melhor até do que o Augusto, da outra turma, lembram dele? |
| Braden: which we translated as "He was even better than Augusto, from the other class, do you remember him?" |
| Thássia: In Portuguese, there are two ways to make comparisons. the comparative and the superlative. In this lesson we will learn about the comparative. We’ll learn about the superlative in Lesson 25. |
| Braden: The comparative sentence structure is used when a relationship of quality is established between two elements. In other words, it’s used to compare two things. |
| Thássia: The comparative can compare things of a superior or inferior nature, or of an equal or unequal nature. so first off, Superiority and Inferiority Comparisons |
| Braden: To form the comparative of superiority we use mais + adjective + do que. Do que is the “full form” but often the do can be dropped, and just que is used. Do que translates to English as “of the that” but ignore that, it just means “than.” |
| Thássia: For example, O carro é mais rápido do que a bicicleta. means “The car is faster than the bicycle.” Here a comparison is being made and between the speed of a car and the speed of a bicycle using “do que.” |
| Braden: In English, to change the adjective “fast” from “fast” to “faster” you simply add an “-er.” In Portuguese, instead of adding “-er” at the end, you add the word “mais” before the adjective. |
| For example, “rápido” which means “fast” becomes “mais rápido” which means “faster.” |
| Thássia: This pattern holds true even for words like “beautiful.” In English, we do not say “beautifuler” we say “more beautiful.” In Portuguese, that would be “mais bonito.” |
| Braden: A small number of Portuguese adjectives do not follow this pattern and might even be considered irregular. These adjectives are - bom, ruim, grande, and pequeno. which means good, bad, big and little respectively. |
| Thássia: To change these to the comparative form you use the words melhor, pior, maior, and menor which mean better, worse, bigger, and smaller respectively. |
| Braden: So in the dialogue we heard the phrase Ele era melhor até do que o Augusto, da outra turma, lembram dele? to mean “He was even better than Augusto, from the other class, do you remember him?” see that melhor and the “do que” in there? |
| Thássia: next we have comparisons of inferiority. When making inferiority comparisons, simply exchange the word mais for menos. For example, Rita é menos bonita do que / que Carol. means “Rita is less beautiful than Carol.” |
| Braden: Also, you can compare aspects of the same object to each other right? |
| Thássia: Right. Qualities of the same element can be compared like in the sentence, A rosa é mais bonita que cheirosa. – “The rose is more beautiful than scented.” |
| Braden: Okay, on to equality and inequality comparisons |
| Thássia: To form the comparison of equality you use tão + adjective + quanto or como. |
| Braden: Quanto and Como are completely interchangeable in equality constructions. so the phrase Carol é tão bonita quanto Rita. means Carol is as beautiful as Rita |
| Thássia: and the phrase Carol é tão bonita como Rita. has the exact same meaning. |
| Braden: The comparison of inequality is exactly the same you just insert a “não.” |
| Thássia: Right. The comparison of inequality is used when the the elements compared are unequal, or when they are not at the same level. for example, Rita não é tão bonita quanto Carol. – Rita is not as beautiful as Carol. |
| Braden: and just to reiterate, Rita não é tão bonita como Carol. has the exact same meaning – Rita is not as beautiful as Carol. |
| Thássia: So, The adverbs muito and bem can also be used to emphasize the comparison in comparisons of superiority and inferiority. |
| Braden: They are pretty much interchangable as far as basic meaning but your tone of voice is what really matters here. |
| Thássia: Right. Carol é muito mais bonita do que Rita. means “Carol is much prettier than Rita.” |
| Braden: but Carol é muito mais bonita do que Rita. means “Carol is much prettier than Rita.” |
| Thássia: same with “bem” Carol é bem mais bonita do que Rita. — “Carol is quite (a bit) prettier than Rita.” |
| Braden: I am constantly making comparisons so this grammar structure will be very useful. Thank you Thássia. |
| Thássia: You’re welcome. |
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