Verb Forms and Articles

Dialog — At Home

Paulo and Sandra discuss food, phone calls, and plans to visit the park. This unit formally introduces I-forms, he-forms, and we-forms of verbs, the definite and indefinite articles, and the informal address você.

Portuguese	English
Paulo
Estou com fome.	I’m hungry.
Onde é que está a comida?	Where’s the food?
Sandra
Na outra sala, em cima da mesa.	In the other room, on the table.
Paulo
Você não vai comer?	Aren’t you going to eat?
Sandra
Só mais tarde.	Not until later.
Agora vou dar um telefonema.	Right now I’m going to make a phone call.
Paulo
Por falar nisso, Maria quer falar com você.	By the way, Maria wants to talk with you.
Sandra
Ah! Eu e ela pretendemos visitar o parque amanhã.	Oh! She and I plan to visit the park tomorrow.
Paulo
Ah, é?! Eu não conheço o parque.	Oh, really?! I’m not familiar with the park.
Sandra
Se você quiser, você pode ir conosco.	If you wish, you can go with us.

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Notes on Grammar

I-forms, He-forms, and We-forms

Portuguese verbs take different shapes depending on who is performing the action.

I-forms correspond to “I” (eu). Most regular I-forms end in an unstressed -o:

I-form	English
posso	I can
pretendo	I plan to
quero	I want
conheço	I know
chego	I arrive
fico	I stay
estudo	I study
trabalho	I work

A few I-forms are irregular: vou (“I go”), sou (“I am”).

He-forms are used with third-person subjects (Paulo, ela, o senhor, você, etc.):

He-form	English
pode	can
pretende	plans to
conhece	knows
vai	goes
está	is (location/state)
é	is (identity/origin)

We-forms correspond to “we” (nós) and always end in -mos:

We-form	English
conhecemos	we know
podemos	we can
pretendemos	we plan to
queremos	we want

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

The definite article “the” is o (masculine) or a (feminine). The indefinite article “a/an” is um (masculine) or uma (feminine). The difference between o and um is nasalization — um is a nasalized version of o.

	Definite (“the”)	Indefinite (“a/an”)
Masculine	o	um
Feminine	a	uma

Portuguese	English
o dia	the day
um dia	a day
o carro	the car
um carro	a car
o telefonema	the phone call
um telefonema	a phone call

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Você — Informal “You”

The form você is used when a degree of familiarity or friendship has been established. It replaces the more formal o senhor / a senhora and works for both sexes. Verbs with você take the he-form.

Portuguese	English
Você vai bem?	Are you doing well?
Você pode sair.	You can leave.
Você pretende ficar?	Do you plan to stay?

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Practice Drills (Selected)

I-form + Infinitive

Portuguese	English
Eu quero ir.	I want to go.
Eu pretendo comer.	I plan to eat.
Eu não posso falar.	I can’t speak.
Eu não vou sair.	I’m not going to leave.

We-form + Infinitive

Portuguese	English
Nós queremos visitar.	We want to visit.
Nós pretendemos ficar em casa.	We plan to stay at home.
Nós não podemos ir.	We can’t go.

He-form + Infinitive

Portuguese	English
A Inês pode falar.	Inês can speak.
Você pode vir.	You can come.
O José quer ir.	José wants to go.

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Translation Drill

Practice putting these into Portuguese:

1. Are you planning to leave tomorrow?
2. Are you planning to eat now?
3. If you want, you can visit the park today.
4. I’m hungry. I want to eat.
5. The food is on the table.
6. Aren’t you going to eat? — Later. Right now I want to talk with Paulo.
7. By the way, can I go with you?
8. Aren’t you going to stay? — No, I can’t.

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Key Vocabulary Summary

Portuguese	English
fome	hunger
Estou com fome.	I’m hungry.
a comida	the food
a sala	the room
a mesa	the table
em cima de	on top of
comer	to eat (infinitive)
dar	to give (infinitive)
dar um telefonema	to make a phone call
falar	to speak, to talk (infinitive)
visitar	to visit (infinitive)
ir	to go (infinitive)
nisso	of that
por falar nisso	by the way
o parque	the park
conosco	with us
se	if
quiser	wish (special form)
só	only; not…until
você	you (informal)
nós	we
outra	other (feminine)