Learn how to use the personal infinitive
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Paloma: Olá! Bem-vindos ao PortuguesePod101.com! I’m Paloma. |
| Gina: And I’m Gina! This is Upper Beginner Season 2 Lesson 15 - Feeling Frustrated in Brazil. In this lesson you’ll learn how to form the personal infinitive. |
| Paloma: This conversation is between a wife and her husband, and it takes place at home in the evening. |
| Gina: The speakers are married, so they’ll be using informal Portuguese. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Paloma: In general, Brazilian parenting techniques are not very different from parenting techniques in other countries. There is one thing, however, the Brazilians are very unique at teaching, and that is flexibility. |
| Gina: Let’s talk about social flexibility. For example, when adults go to a party they’ll often take their children with them. The children are simply expected to find a way to entertain themselves. |
| Paloma: This is very different from other countries, where the parents will bring their children’s toys, maybe a movie or book, or find a babysitter while the parents go out. Now, these kinds of things do happen in Brazil, but they are the exception rather than the rule. |
| Gina: Another example is at the beach. In Brazil, the beach is where anyone and everyone who lives nearby will come to spend time as a family. There, children are expected not only to play with the other children but if there are any beach toys, everyone is expected to share with everyone else. |
| Paloma: The attitude that these are our toys and those are your toys is borderline offensive to most Brazilians. |
| Gina: And this flexibility extends to almost all parts of society and all relationships. For example, if someone is forty-five minutes late to meet you at the store, you simply deal with it. |
| Paloma: Or, if a bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, you’re much more likely to see Brazilians outside the bus helping and happily chatting than you are to see any of them angry or frustrated at the delay. |
| Gina: I think that’s a great, healthy way to deal with problems! |
| Paloma: That’s right! Brazilians get angry just like anybody else, but to get angry about these kinds of things seems very childish to them. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Paloma: First, we’re going to look at the phrases meu bem and meu amor. |
| Gina: These two phrases are used every day between couples as terms of endearment or nicknames. Both husbands and wives say them when addressing and referring to each other. |
| Paloma: So, in other words, a husband could call his wife meu bem and meu amor, and vice versa. |
| Gina: Remember that these forms do not change according to gender. |
| Paloma: That’s right. Our next phrase is tá na hora. |
| Gina: It literally translates as "it is in the hour" but it means "it’s about time." |
| Paloma: Right. It’s a very common set phrase. For example, when you are waiting for someone and you want them to hurry, you can say Já tá na hora! Vamos! |
| Gina: “It’s about time already! Let’s go!” |
| Paloma: Right, tá na hora de ver a próxima expressão. |
| Gina: You’re right. “It’s about time to see the next phrase.” |
| Paloma: And it is sabia que. |
| Gina: This means “did you know that?” This phrase is used many times every day by practically all Brazilians. |
| Paloma: Often, it’s preceded by the word você which changes the phrase to você sabia que. |
| Gina: Right. First you use that phrase, then insert what you would like to tell the person. Let’s hear an example, shall we? |
| Paloma: We shall! Você sabia que o Alex vai se casar? |
| Gina: “Did you know that Alex will get married?” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Paloma: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the personal infinitive. |
| : |
| Gina: The personal infinitive is used to clarify the subject, when the sentence has more than one verb. Or rather, it's used to make the person or topic clearer. |
| Paloma: That’s right. So for example, É um prazer estarmos em sua casa. |
| Gina: “It is a pleasure for us to be in your home.” |
| Paloma: Or, from the dialogue we have the sentence Eu peço para ele fazer as coisas e ele não faz. |
| Gina: “I ask him to do things and he doesn’t do them.” Now, in both cases, the verb is in the infinitive form. |
| Paloma: So, there are two main situations where you would use a personalized infinitive. |
| Gina: The first situation is when the subject of the main verb is different from that of the infinitive verb. In other words, there are two verbs and two subjects. |
| Paloma: That’s right. For example, Foi muito triste para ele sair tão cedo. |
| Gina: “It was very sad for him to leave so soon.” Great! What’s the other situation? |
| Paloma: The other is when the infinitive has the same subject as the verb, but the infinitive follows a preposition. For example, Antes de viajarem, eles foram ao supermercado. |
| Gina: “Before they traveled, they went to the supermarket.” Many people do not use this correctly or, more likely, they confuse the personalized infinitive with the object of the preposition. |
| Paloma: An example would be the sentence Você poderia fazer isso para mim? |
| Gina: Which translates as “Could you do that for me?” |
| Paloma: Compare that with the sentence Você poderia fazer isso para eu poder sair? |
| Gina: Which literally translates as “Could you do this so I can leave?” Notice how the English changes from "me" to "I." The Portuguese does the exact same thing. |
| Palom: However, you might hear people say things like Você poderia fazer isso para mim poder sair? |
| Gina: This is incorrect and translates to “Could you do this so that me can leave?” |
Outro |
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| Gina: That’s all for this lesson! Make sure you check the lesson notes, and leave us a comment. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Paloma: Até mais! |
| Gina: Bye! |
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