Brazilian Portuguese - grammar & some basic phases.

Português para estrangeiros

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_ Brazilian Regional Dialects Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation is more consistent throughout Brazil than the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. This surprises many people considering the fact that Brazil is so much larger in both area and population. Even then, almost all the regional traits and characteristics of European Portuguese are present either in standard Brazilian Portuguese or in one or more of the regional Brazilian dialects.

Because there is a lack of scientific data describing the differences between various regional dialects spoken in Brazil, they cannot be classified in the same manner as the dialects of European Portuguese.

There is a proposal to classify Brazilian Portuguese dialects along pronunciation lines, a method similar to the one used to classify European Portuguese. This method is based on vowel pronunciation and speech cadence. For example, pegar (to take) can be pronounced with an open or closed e. Using this method, it is possible to differentiate somewhat between the two major Brazilian dialects (northern and southern) as well as their respective sub dialects:

Northern Dialects	Southern Dialects
Amazonian	Bahian (Bahia)
Northeastern	Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro)
Mineira (Minas Gerais)
Sulina (southern)

Some Basic Phrases

Bom dia! Hello! / Good morning!	Boa tarde! Good afternoon!	Boa noite! Good evening! / Good night!
Oi/Olá! Tchau! Hi! / Bye!	Good bye.	Por favor. Please.
Até mais. See you / See you later.	Até logo. See you soon.	Até amanhã. See you tomorrow.
(Muito) Obrigado. Thank you (very much).	Não há de quê. You're welcome. / Don't mention it.	Bem-vindo Welcome
Desculpe-me I'm sorry	Com licença / Perdão. Excuse me / Pardon	Vamos! Let's go!
Como o senhor está? How are you? (formal) feminine: a senhora	Como vai? How are you? (informal)	E aí? How's it going? (Only in Brazil)
Bem / Muito bem Well / Very well	Mal / Muito mal / Mais ou menos Bad / Very bad / More or less	Sim / Não Yes / No
Como o senhor se chama? What is your name, please? (formal)	Qual é seu nome? What's your name? (informal)	Me chamo... My name is...
Prazer em conhecê-lo Nice to meet you.	Igualmente. Same here.	Senhor / Senhora / Senhorita Mister / Mrs. / Miss
De onde o senhor é? Where are you from? (formal)	De onde você é? Where are you from? (informal)	Eu sou de... I'm from...
Quantos anos o senhor tem? How old are you? (formal)	Quantos anos você tem? How old are you? (informal)	Eu tenho _____ anos. I am _____ years old.
O senhor fala português?Do you speak Portuguese? (formal)	Você fala inglês?Do you speak English? (informal)	(Não) Falo... I (don't) speak...
Compreende? / Entende? Do you understand? (formal / informal)	(Não) Compreendo. / (Não) Entendo. I (don't) understand.	Eu (não) sei. I (don't) know.
Pode me ajudar? Can you help me?	Claro que sim. Of course	Como? What? Pardon? Sorry?
Onde está / Onde estão... ? Where is ... / Where are ... ?	Aqui Here.	Há / Havia... There is / are... / There was / were...
Como se diz ____ em português?How do you say ___ in Portuguese?	O que é isto? What is that?	Qual é o problema? What's the matter (with you)?
Não importa. It doesn't matter.	O que aconteceu? What's happening?	Não faço idéia. I have no idea.
Estou cansado / doente. I'm tired / sick.	Estou com fome / sêde. I'm hungry / thirsty.	Estou com calor / frio. I'm hot / cold.
Estou chateado. I'm bored.	Não me importa. I don't care.	Não se preocupe. Don't worry
Tudo bem /Tá bom. That's alright.	Esqueci. I forgot.	Tenho que ir agora. I must go now.
Saúde! Bless you!	Parabéns! Congratulations!	Boa sorte! Good luck!
É a sua vez. It's your turn. (informal)	Cale-se! / Cala a boca! Shut up!	Eu te amo. I love you. (informal and singular)

Notice that Portuguese has informal and formal ways of saying things. This is because there is more than one meaning to "you" in Portuguese (as well as in many other languages.) The informal you is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal you is used when talking to someone who is older than you or someone for whom you would like to show respect (a professor, for example.) There are also two ways to say you in the plural, used when speaking to more than one person.

All adjectives in Portuguese have masculine and feminine forms. In general, the masculine form ends in -o and the feminine form ends in -a.