Portuguese Conjunctions – All You Need to Know
Without conjunctions, we would sound rather clumsy and inarticulate: I like apples. I like pears. I don’t like bananas. No one speaks like that. In avoiding the…
Portuguese Future Subjunctive (Futuro do Conjuntivo) – Conjugation and Usage
If you have been learning Portuguese long enough, you know that sooner or later you’ve got to come to grips with the Future Subjunctive (Futuro do Conjuntivo).…
Two Worlds, One Language: Unveiling the Differences Between European and Brazilian Portuguese
You are probably aware that there are two well-established standards of Portuguese – the European and the Brazilian. Most language learners, though, don’t know much about their…
Portuguese Past Tenses – Usage Rundown Anchored to English
In this article, we will look at the Portuguese equivalents of the English Past Simple, Past Continuous, and Past Perfect tenses. Past Simple Preterite – Completed Actions…
Portuguese Verb Tenses and Moods Explained: A Usage Rundown Anchored to English
With so many conjugations, Portuguese verbs are a hard-to-chew bit for anyone learning the language, especially for those not acquainted with any Romance language from before. Now,…
Falar vs. Dizer vs. Contar in Portuguese
Portuguese language learners often wonder about the difference between the verbs Falar, Dizer, and Contar. While they can sometimes be used interchangeably, certain contexts will call for…
Portuguese Present Subjunctive (Presente Conjuntivo)
The use of the Subjunctive in Portuguese (Conjuntivo) is way more frequent than in English. That alone can be a stumbling block for many language learners as…
Past Continuous Equivalent in Portuguese
The Portuguese equivalent of the English Past Continuous is analogous to the Present Continuous Equivalent in Portuguese. The only difference is that the auxiliary verb Estar must…
Basic Portuguese Grammar for Beginners
Introduction Understanding the fundamentals of Portuguese grammar can be extremely helpful. In this blog post, I’ll touch on a few relevant aspects of Portuguese grammar that you…
The Imperative in Portuguese
Like other Romance languages, Portuguese has an abundance of verb forms. Adding to the pile is the Imperative mood. We use the Imperative to give instructions and commands,…
Passive Voice in Portuguese
Passive voice – as opposed to Active voice – highlights the recipient that is acted upon by the agent of the verb. Accordingly, the recipient of the…
Portuguese Verbs Ser vs. Estar: How and When to Use Either
In Portuguese, there are two To Be verbs: Ser and Estar. Not fully understanding their differences, language learners will often hesitate between using one or the other.…
Personal Infinitive in Portuguese (Infinitivo Pessoal)
The Personal Infinitive (Infinitivo Pessoal) is unique to Portuguese and commonplace. There’s no parallel in other languages and learners of Portuguese often struggle to wrap their heads…
The Verb Ter in Portuguese
In short, the verb Ter is the Portuguese equivalent of Have in English as both share the same basic meaning and are used to form Perfect tenses:…
Past Participle in Portuguese
In Portuguese, we use the Past Participle to form Perfect tenses and the passive voice. In addition, we use Past Participles as adjectives. In what follows, I will…
Portuguese Verb “Dar”: An Idiomatic Gem
If you asked me to list the most frequently used, idiomatically rich verbs in Portuguese, I’d certainly put Dar on top of that list. Dar means ‘give’,…
Portuguese Regular Verbs in the Present Tense
Portuguese verbs are indeed more cumbersome to learn than, say, English. Being a Romance language, Portuguese is not short of verb forms to keep track of. Fortunately,…
Portuguese Tricky Verbs: Saber vs Conseguir vs Poder vs Conhecer
Many learners of Portuguese who rely on English as a reference point struggle with these verbs: Saber, Conseguir, Poder, and Conhecer. Why? Because a single English verb,…