Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Portuguese Survival Phrases brought to you by PortuguesePod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Brazil. You will be surprised at how far a little Portuguese will go.
Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus
In today's lesson, we'll cover phrases used for apologizing. These are extremely important because in Brazil, not only will you be speaking a different language, you will be in a very different culture. On the surface, Brazil seems very modern and similar to other western cultures, but just under the surface is a very different world.
We'll start with desculpa.
Desculpa
This word literally means "to un-guilt" or "to un-blame," but we use it similarly to the English "I'm sorry."
Let’s break it down by syllable: Desculpa
And one time fast: Desculpa
You use this phrase when you arrive late for a meeting, step on someone's foot by accident, or when you've done anything you shouldn't have and you feel bad about it.
In the case that someone uses this expression towards you, the proper response is está desculpado, which literally means "You are un-guilted." We use it similarly to the English, "You are forgiven."
Let’s break it down by syllable: está desculpado
And one time fast: está desculpado
Now while this is the proper answer, you will also hear things like tudo bem ("It's okay."), which we learned in lesson four, and não se preocupe. ("Don't worry about it.") Let's look a little bit closer at Não se preocupe. The first word, não, we've already talked about, and it means "no." The next word, se, doesn't really exist in English but it kind of means "yourself."
Se
Se
The last word is preocupe, which means "worry."
Preocupe
Preocupe
So all together, we have Não se preocupe, which means "Don't worry about it."
Next, let's take a look at Com licença.
Let’s break it down by syllable: Com licença.
And one time fast: Com licença.
Com literally means "with,"
Com
Com
And licença means "permission."
Licença
Licença
So the phrase com licença means "With (your) permission." The "your" is implied and we use it almost identically to the English "Excuse me...."
You use this phrase when you ask for someone's attention. For instance, when you want to ask the name of a street, you can put Com licença,... at the beginning of the phrase, which can then be easily followed by Por favor, você pode.... You can also use Com licença as a standalone phrase when you need to pass by someone. For example, if you are in the supermarket and two women are chatting up a storm and happen to be blocking the aisle, you could say com licença, and they would quickly apologize and move out of the way.
Cultural Insights
One last phrase you should know is dá licença. Basically, dá licença has the same meaning as com licença with one important exception: com licença is a request, and dá licença is a command. People usually only use dá licença when they are irritated or angry, so I suggest not using this. However, if you hear it, it means "Get out of the way! Now!"

Outro
Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so boa sorte!
"I'm sorry." - Desculpa.
Desculpa.
Desculpa.
"You are forgiven." - Está desculpado.
Está desculpado.
Está desculpado.
"Excuse me." - Com licença.
Com licença.
Com licença.
Alright, that's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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