Dialog — Speaking Portuguese

Two speakers discuss Portuguese language skills, accents, and daily practice. This unit introduces cognate patterns, the construction ter que (“have to”), gostar + de (“to like”), and negative questions.

Portuguese	English
Você fala português muito bem.	You speak Portuguese very well.
Você não nota um sotaque espanhol?	Don’t you notice a Spanish accent?
Um pouco. Por quê? Você fala espanhol também?	A little. Why? Do you speak Spanish too?
Falo. E atrapalha muito. As palavras, a gramática, etcétera.	I do. And it causes lots of confusion. The words, the grammar, etc.
Você tem muita oportunidade de praticar português?	Do you have much chance to practice Portuguese?
Tenho que falar no escritório todos os dias.	I have to speak it in the office every day.
E que tal o seu inglês?	And how’s your English?
Péssimo!	Terrible!

Notes on Grammar

Cognates

Cognates are words that are easily recognizable across languages because of their close resemblance. While recognition is easy, accurate pronunciation requires care — stress patterns and vowel qualities often differ between English and Portuguese.

English	Portuguese	Stress Difference
American	americano	stress shifts
president	presidente	stress shifts
Portuguese	português	stress shifts
opportunity	oportunidade	stress shifts
grammar	gramática	stress shifts
English	inglês	stress shifts
Spanish	espanhol	stress shifts

Be careful not to carry over English pronunciation habits. For instance, English speakers naturally pronounce “Portuguese” with a ch sound (“Por-chu-guese”), but in Portuguese there is no ch sound in português.

-ar Verbs: I-forms and He-forms

Verbs of the -ar type are the most common category in Portuguese. The I-form ends in -o and the he-form ends in -a:

Neutral form	I-form	He-form	English
falar	falo	fala	speak
trabalhar	trabalho	trabalha	work
notar	noto	nota	notice
gostar	gosto	gosta	like
atrapalhar	atrapalho	atrapalha	cause confusion
achar	acho	acha	think, find
ficar	fico	fica	stay
chegar	chego	chega	arrive
visitar	visito	visita	visit
evitar	evito	evita	avoid
praticar	pratico	pratica	practice
levantar	levanto	levanta	get up

The strong stress in all he-forms and I-forms falls on the next-to-last vowel.

Some -ar verbs have an open O in the I-form and he-form but a closed o in the neutral form: gosto/gosta (open O) vs. gostar (closed o); noto/nota (open O) vs. notar (closed o).

Ter que — Have to

The construction ter que + infinitive means “have to” or “must.” The forms of ter you know are tenho (“I have”) and tem (“has/have,” he-form).

Portuguese	English
Tenho que falar.	I have to speak.
Tenho que trabalhar.	I have to work.
Tem que estudar.	He/She has to study.
Tem que dar um telefonema.	He/She has to make a phone call.

Gostar + de — To Like

Forms of the verb gostar must be followed by de when the liked object is stated. In Portuguese, you like “of” something.

Portuguese	English
Gosto de Maria.	I like Maria.
Maria gosta de Paulo.	Maria likes Paulo.
Gosto da cidade.	I like the city. (de + a = da)
Gosto do parque.	I like the park. (de + o = do)

When the liked item has already been mentioned, de is omitted:

Portuguese	English
Você gosta?	Do you like (it)?
Gosto, sim.	Yes, I do.

Negative Questions

In Portuguese, a negative question with não expects a contradicting answer, just as “Don’t you…?” does in English. The answer may begin with the verb form alone or with não:

Portuguese	English
Você não nota um sotaque?	Don’t you notice an accent?
Noto, sim.	Yes, I do (notice).
Não, não noto.	No, I don’t.

Practice Drills (Selected)

I-form and He-form of -ar Verbs

Neutral	I-form	He-form
falar	falo	fala
trabalhar	trabalho	trabalha
notar	noto	nota
gostar	gosto	gosta
praticar	pratico	pratica
visitar	visito	visita
levantar	levanto	levanta
chegar	chego	chega

Gostar + de Practice

Portuguese	English
Gosto de trabalhar.	I like to work.
Gosto da gramática.	I like the grammar.
Ele gosta do parque.	He likes the park.
Você gosta de praticar?	Do you like to practice?

Translation Drill

Practice putting these into Portuguese:

You speak Portuguese very well.
I have to speak Portuguese every day.
Do you like the city?
I like the park.
Don’t you notice an accent?
She has to work in the office.

Key Vocabulary Summary

Portuguese	English
fala / falo	speak(s) / I speak
nota / noto	notice(s) / I notice
gosta / gosto	like(s) / I like
atrapalha	causes confusion (he-form)
acha / acho	think(s), find(s) / I think
o português	Portuguese (language)
o inglês	English (language)
o espanhol	Spanish (language)
o sotaque	the accent
a palavra	the word
a gramática	the grammar
a oportunidade	the opportunity
praticar	to practice (infinitive)
ter que	to have to
gostar de	to like
o escritório	the office
todos os dias	every day
que tal?	how about?
o seu	your
péssimo	terrible
um pouco	a little

Cognates and -ar Verbs

Grammar Focus

Course Material