FSI Portuguese Programmatic Course

As the mother tongue of around 220 million people in Portugal and Brazil as well as several African nations and other countries around the world, Portuguese is the language with the sixth-largest number of native speakers. There are also thought to be a further 50 million non-native speakers of Portuguese, making it an important global language.

The Portuguese of Brazil and Portugal differ significantly, more so than the English of Britain and the US. This FSI course focuses on the language of Brazil and will give you an introduction to the basics of the language, allowing you to get by in a range of situations that you are likely to encounter while travelling there.

Course Details

What are FSI Programmatic courses?

The Foreign Service Institute is a branch of the US government responsible for providing diplomatic staff with the necessary training required to prepare them for postings abroad. The intensive Basic courses are the core component of FSI’s language training and are designed to allow diplomats to reach the relatively high degree of proficiency necessary to function effectively in their positions.

However, since these courses usually last around six months and are extremely comprehensive, the shorter and lighter Programmatic courses were created to offer an introduction to several key languages. Completing a Programmatic course gives a student a good foundation in the language, leaving them better prepared to begin a more demanding Basic course as well as allowing them to achieve a higher level of success.

What is the structure of the FSI Portuguese Programmatic course?

The FSI Portuguese Programmatic course is divided into two volumes, the first of which contains 25 units and the second, 23. The first six units introduce aspects of the Portuguese language, especially the pronunciation. After that, from Unit 7 on, there are also short dialogs containing new language as well as drills and exercises to allow you to practice what you have learned.

The course is accompanied by a set of audio recordings that guide you through your learning, giving you all the instructions you need and presenting the sounds of the Portuguese language for you to copy.

How can you use the FSI Portuguese Programmatic course?

The Portuguese version is one of the most user-friendly of the Programmatic courses. It is designed to be suitable for individual study, and all you need to do is work through the units in order, following the instructions on the recordings.

If you just study this course, it will provide you with a good introduction to the language, allowing you to communicate confidently in a range of situations in Portuguese-speaking countries.

Alternatively, it could also serve as a preparatory course before immersing yourself more fully in the language, either using other FSI materials or using materials from another coursebook.

Taking it further

Of course, you can’t learn Portuguese from books alone, and if you want to progress in the language, you need to take your new language skills out into the real world and try them out. Look for Portuguese speakers to practice with and make speaking Portuguese a part of your daily life. Then, once you do this, you will see how much Portuguese you have already learned.

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Course Contents

Unit	Topic	Key Focus
Volume 1 — Units 1–25	Complete Text (PDF)	15+ hrs audio · 809 pages
Unit 1	Pronunciation I (Pronúncia I)	Nasal om/im, dia sound, word order, negation with não
Unit 2	Greetings (Saudações)	Obrigado/a, senhor/senhora, greetings with vai/vou
Unit 3	Names and Identity (Nomes)	Chamar-se, meu/nosso, ele/ela, quem?
Unit 4	Location (Localização)	Do/da possession, onde?, em/na responses
Unit 5	Plans (Planos)	Vou/vai + infinitive, -ar/-er/-ir verbs, quando?
Unit 6	Requests (Pedidos)	Quero/quer, posso/pode, por que?/porque
Unit 7	Verb Forms (Formas verbais)	I/he/we-forms, definite & indefinite articles
Unit 8	They-Forms (Formas do plural)	They-forms, ir + infinitive, não + verb
Unit 9	Noun Classification (Substantivos)	Definite & indefinite articles, noun gender
Unit 10	Gender & Adjectives (Gênero)	Na/no contractions, ser vs. estar, adjectives
Unit 11	Plurals (Plurais)	Pluralizing rules, contractions do/da/dos/das
Unit 12	Cognates & -ar Verbs (Cognatos)	Cognate recognition, ter que, gostar + de
Unit 13	More -ar Verb Forms (Verbos -ar)	Nasal vowels, we/they-forms, conjunction que
Unit 14	Past: -ar Verbs I (Pretérito I)	Past I/he-forms, ir/ter past, contractions ao/à
Unit 15	Past: -ar Verbs II (Pretérito II)	-aram/-amos, saber vs. conhecer, double negatives
Unit 16	Past: -er Verbs (Pretérito -er)	Past -er verbs, reflexives, pelo/pela, telling time
Unit 17	Past: -ir Verbs (Pretérito -ir)	-ão/ões cognates, past -ir verbs
Unit 18	Possessives (Possessivos)	Meu/minha, seu/sua, days and months
Unit 19	Present: -ir Verbs (Presente -ir)	Present -ir verbs, -ndo form
Unit 20	Open Vowels (Vogais abertas)	Open O/E in verbs, este/esse, greetings
Unit 21	Descriptive Past I (Imperfeito I)	-ava endings (imperfect), viajar
Unit 22	Descriptive Past II (Imperfeito II)	-ia endings, common names
Unit 23	Descriptive Past III (Imperfeito III)	Era, tinha, estava, queria, sabia
Unit 24	Adjective Forms (Adjetivos)	-el/-il endings, acabar + -ndo, precisar
Unit 25	Review (Revisão)	Comprehensive review of Units 1–24
Volume 2 — Units 26–48	Complete Text (PDF)	12+ hrs audio · 629 pages
Unit 26	Arriving in Country (Chegando)	Immigration, customs, será que, ter + de
Unit 27	Time & Numbers (Tempo e números)	Há + time, numbers 1–100
Unit 28	At the Hotel (No hotel)	Tem for há, saber vs. conhecer, mesmo
Unit 29	Command Forms (Comandos)	Imperative forms
Unit 30	More at the Hotel (No hotel II)	Quer dizer, open E/O in verbs
Unit 31	Indirect Object Pronouns (Pronomes)	Me/lhe/nos/lhes, pronouns after para
Unit 32	Hotel Breakfast (Café da manhã)	Numbers 100–10,000, irregular verbs, vir
Unit 33	Pronoun Position (Posição)	Object pronoun placement, demonstrative contractions
Unit 34	In a Taxi (No táxi)	Pôr, irregular past verbs, tudo/todo
Unit 35	Future Subjunctive (Futuro subj.)	Future subjunctive, ter + participle, -dade cognates
Unit 36	At a Bar in Rio (Num barzinho)	Diminutive -inho, courtesy, irregular verbs
Unit 37	Personal Infinitive (Inf. pessoal)	Personal infinitive forms, passar/conseguir
Unit 38	Asking Directions (Informações)	Dar/perder, confirmation questions, -ndo forms
Unit 39	Present Subjunctive (Pres. subj.)	Present subjunctive, direct object pronouns
Unit 40	At the Restaurant (No restaurante)	Dever/poder, reflexives, prepositions de/a
Unit 41	Past Subjunctive (Imp. subj.)	Past subjunctive, agreement/disagreement
Unit 42	Phone, Home, Street (Telefone)	Comparisons, space/time expressions, estar com
Unit 43	Conditional (Condicional)	Se + past subjunctive, conditional tense, -íssimo
Unit 44	The Weather (O tempo)	“Supposed to”, negatives, levar vs. tomar
Unit 45	Subj. after Conjunctions (Conjunções)	Subjunctive after conjunctions, pegar
Unit 46	Post Office & Shop (Correio e loja)	Descriptive past as conditional, vocabulary expansion
Unit 47	Advanced Subjunctive (Subj. avançado)	Future subjunctive, passive voice, -ável/-ível
Unit 48	Future Tense (Futuro)	Subjunctive in noun clauses, future tense, descriptions