Dialog — A Flat Tire and a Day at the Beach

This unit’s dialog involves driving, flat tires, the beach, and apologizing for being late.

Portuguese	English
Desculpe, eu cheguei atrasado. Sinto muito.	Excuse me, I arrived late. I’m sorry.
O que é que aconteceu?	What happened?
O pneu furou.	The tire blew out.
Onde? Perto daqui?	Where? Near here?
Não. No túnel, imagina!	No. In the tunnel, of all places!
Você gostou da praia, João?	Did you like the beach, John?
Não muito, não.	Not very much, no.
Por quê?	Why?
Choveu o dia todo.	It rained all day.
Eu estava dirigindo quando o pneu furou.	I was driving when the tire blew out.

Notes on Grammar

Part I — Cognates Ending in -ão / -ões

Many Portuguese nouns ending in -ão correspond to English words ending in “-tion” or “-sion.” Their plurals replace -ão with -ões.

English	Portuguese (Singular)	Portuguese (Plural)
solution	solução	soluções
position	posição	posições
condition	condição	condições
situation	situação	situações
communication	comunicação	comunicações
mission	missão	missões
session	sessão	sessões
expression	expressão	expressões
vision	visão	visões
invasion	invasão	invasões
decision	decisão	decisões
formation	formação	formações
opinion	opinião	opiniões
lesson	lição	lições

Note: The English “sh” sound in “-tion” corresponds to Portuguese ç (before ã), and the English “zh” sound in “-sion” corresponds to Portuguese s (before ã).

Part II — Cognates Ending in -al / -ais

Nouns and adjectives ending in stressed -al form their plurals by changing -al to -ais.

Singular	Plural	English
final	finais	final(s)
normal	normais	normal(s)
local	locais	local(s)
canal	canais	canal(s)
formal	formais	formal(s)
legal	legais	legal(s)
federal	federais	federal(s)
anual	anuais	annual(s)
capital	capitais	capital(s)

Part III — The z-link in Pronunciation

When a word ends in s (pronounced as z before a vowel) and the next word begins with a vowel, a linking z sound is produced. This is important for natural-sounding Portuguese.

Part IV — Past Tense of -ir Verbs

Verbs of the -ir type follow a pattern similar to -er verbs in the past tense.

I-form: The ending is stressed -i (same as -er verbs).

Neutral Form	Past I-form	English
abrir	abri	I opened
sair	saí	I left
dormir	dormi	I slept
sentir	senti	I felt
repetir	repeti	I repeated

He-form: The ending is stressed -iu.

Neutral Form	Past He-form	English
abrir	abriu	he opened
sair	saiu	he left
dormir	dormiu	he slept
sentir	sentiu	he felt
cair	caiu	he fell
dirigir	dirigiu	he drove

They-form: The ending is -iram.

Neutral Form	Past They-form	English
abrir	abriram	they opened
sair	saíram	they left
dormir	dormiram	they slept

We-form: The ending is -imos (same as the present tense we-form).

Neutral Form	Past We-form	English
abrir	abrimos	we opened
sair	saímos	we left
dormir	dormimos	we slept

Summary of -ir Past Tense Endings

	Ending	Example (abrir)
eu	-i	abri
ele/ela	-iu	abriu
nós	-imos	abrimos
eles/elas	-iram	abriram

Part V — New Vocabulary from the Dialog

Portuguese	English
acontecer	to happen
aconteceu	happened (he-form, past)
o pneu	tire
furar	to blow out, to puncture
furou	blew out (he-form, past)
dirigir	to drive
dirigiu	he drove
dormir	to sleep
dormiu	he slept
cair	to fall
caiu	fell
cair no sono	to fall asleep
a praia	beach
desculpe	excuse me
sinto muito	I’m sorry
atrasado	late (adjective)

Practice Drills (Selected)

Drill — Question Formation

Practice asking these questions in Portuguese, using the indicated question words:

With O que é que:

What happened?
What did you eat?
What did you drink?
What did you write?
What did you forget?

With Quem é que:

Who drove?
Who fell?
Who fell asleep?
Who left?
Who opened the door?

With Por que é que:

Why did they fall?
Why did they leave?
Why did they return?
Why did they eat so much?
Why did they go to bed early?

Translation Drill

I’m sorry. I don’t remember.
I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.
I’m sorry. I can’t go today.
I’m sorry. I left the car at the Embassy.
I was driving when the tire blew out.
I was driving when we passed the Embassy.
It was raining when we left the Embassy.
I slept real well because it was raining.
We’re not going to leave now because it’s raining.
Did you like the beach? — Not very much. It rained all day.

Key Vocabulary Summary

Portuguese	English
abri / abriu	I opened / he opened
saí / saiu	I left / he left
dormi / dormiu	I slept / he slept
caí / caiu	I fell / he fell
senti / sentiu	I felt / he felt
repeti / repetiu	I repeated / he repeated
dirigiu	he drove
aconteceu	it happened
o pneu furou	the tire blew out
a praia	beach
desculpe	excuse me
sinto muito	I’m sorry
atrasado/a	late
a solução / as soluções	solution / solutions
a posição / as posições	position / positions
a decisão / as decisões	decision / decisions
final / finais	final / finals
normal / normais	normal / normals
local / locais	local / locals

Past Tense: -ir Verbs

Grammar Focus

Course Material