The Descriptive Past II

Dialog — What Did You Use to Do?

This unit presents a series of two-line exchanges, all beginning with “What did you use to do?”

Exchange 1

Portuguese	English
O que é que você fazia antes, Eduardo?	What did you use to do, Eduardo?
Eu trabalhava para uma empresa particular.	I used to work for a private company.
Eu vendia seguros.	I sold (used to sell) insurance.

Exchange 2

Portuguese	English
O que é que você fazia lá em Buffalo, Marcos?	What did you use to do there in Buffalo, Mark?
Eu escrevia para um jornal local.	I used to write for a local newspaper.

Exchange 3

Portuguese	English
O que é que a senhora fazia em Minnesota, Dona Lúcia?	What did you use to do in Minnesota, Miss Barnes?

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Notes on Grammar

Part I — The Imperfect Tense of -er and -ir Verbs: -ia Endings

For -er and -ir verbs, the imperfect is formed with the ending -ia (stressed on the i).

I-form and He-form: Both use -ia.

Neutral Form	Imperfect	English
comer	comia	used to eat
beber	bebia	used to drink
escrever	escrevia	used to write
conhecer	conhecia	used to know
dormir	dormia	used to sleep
abrir	abria	used to open
sair	saía	used to leave
repetir	repetia	used to repeat
receber	recebia	used to receive
ler	lia	used to read
fazer	fazia	used to do/make
saber	sabia	used to know

We-form: -íamos (stress on the í).

Portuguese	English
comíamos	we used to eat
bebíamos	we used to drink
escrevíamos	we used to write
dormíamos	we used to sleep
saíamos	we used to leave
recebíamos	we used to receive
líamos	we used to read
conhecíamos	we used to know

They-form: -iam (stress on the i).

Portuguese	English
comiam	they used to eat
bebiam	they used to drink
dormiam	they used to sleep
repetiam	they used to repeat
abriam	they used to open
saíam	they used to leave
faziam	they used to do
escreviam	they used to write
sabiam	they used to know

Summary: -er/-ir Imperfect Endings

	Ending	Example (comer)	Example (dormir)
eu	-ia	comia	dormia
ele/ela	-ia	comia	dormia
nós	-íamos	comíamos	dormíamos
eles/elas	-iam	comiam	dormiam

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Part II — The Verb vender (to sell)

The verb vender is a regular -er verb. Here are its key forms:

Tense	eu	ele	nós	eles
Present	vendo	vende	vendemos	vendem
Past (preterite)	vendi	vendeu	vendemos	venderam
Imperfect	vendia	vendia	vendíamos	vendiam

Portuguese	English
Eu vendia seguros.	I used to sell insurance.
Ele vendeu o carro.	He sold the car.
Nós vendemos a casa.	We sold the house.

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Part III — Common Brazilian First Names

Here is a selection of common Brazilian first names organized by gender:

Male names:

Name		Name		Name
Antônio		Fernando		Roberto
Carlos		Geraldo		Sebastião
Eduardo		João		Sérgio
Emílio		Marcos		Wilson

Female names:

Name		Name		Name
Ana		Cristina		Margarida
Ângela		Inês		Regina
Bárbara		Lúcia		Sandra
Beatriz		Lourdes		Vera
Carmem		Maria		Yara

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Practice Drills (Selected)

Drill — Imperfect with -ia

Say these sentences in Portuguese:

1. They used to sleep a lot. They would sleep until noon. → Eles dormiam muito. Eles dormiam até o meio-dia.
2. They used to eat a lot. They would eat all day. → Eles comiam muito. Eles comiam o dia todo.
3. They used to go out a lot. They would go out together. → Eles saíam muito. Eles saíam juntos.
4. We used to go to the beach. We would go there every day. → Nós íamos à praia. Nós íamos lá todos os dias.
5. We used to drink lots of coffee. We would drink it every day. → Nós bebíamos muito café. Nós bebíamos todos os dias.

Drill — Negative Imperfect

1. We used to always read “O Jornal.” We would never read “The Post.” → Nós sempre líamos “O Jornal.” Nós nunca líamos “The Post.”
2. They would always go to the mountains. They would never go to the beach. → Eles sempre iam às montanhas. Eles nunca iam à praia.
3. They would always drink coffee. They would not drink Coke. → Eles sempre bebiam café. Eles não bebiam Coca-Cola.
4. We always used to leave at noon. We would never leave earlier. → Nós sempre saíamos ao meio-dia. Nós nunca saíamos mais cedo.

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Translation Drill

1. What did you use to do? — I used to work for a private company.
2. I used to sell insurance.
3. I used to write for a local newspaper.
4. Did you use to sleep late? — Yes, we did.
5. Did you use to go out a lot? — No, we didn’t.
6. Would you eat in the restaurant across the street? — Yes, we would.
7. Did you use to know his daughter? — Yes, we did.
8. Did you use to write lots of letters? — Yes, we did.

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Key Vocabulary Summary

Portuguese	English
comia / comíamos / comiam	used to eat (I-he / we / they)
bebia / bebíamos / bebiam	used to drink
dormia / dormíamos / dormiam	used to sleep
escrevia / escrevíamos / escreviam	used to write
saía / saíamos / saíam	used to leave
lia / líamos	used to read (I-he / we)
fazia / fazíamos / faziam	used to do
vender / vendia	to sell / used to sell
os seguros	insurance
a empresa	company, firm
particular	private
local	local
juntos	together
todos os dias	every day
sempre	always
nunca	never