Geared toward Absolute Beginners, this course gives you a solid start and foundation to build upon.
This is an introductory course to the Portuguese language as spoken in Portugal. Throughout the course, we will focus on the Portuguese sound system and basic Portuguese grammar.
You will also learn how to introduce yourself and day-to-day, useful phrases. Finally, we will discuss learning resources and strategies to support your learning journey.
After the course, you will have a basic understanding of European Portuguese pronunciation and grammar. You will also be capable of engaging in simple, short oral interactions. Last but not least, you will be aware of a variety of learning resources and strategies to help you succeed at learning the language.
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Beginners A2
This intensive course is for language learners striving toward the A2 level.
This intensive course is for language learners striving toward the A1level.
If you have just started your learning journey, you may find this course too challenging. Consider enrolling for the Clean Slate A0 instead (if available).
There are plenty of interesting options for our accommodation. It will most likely be a countryside house near Tavira.
I haven't booked it yet because I want to get a better idea of the group's composition (how many couples/singles) and your preferences before I do so. That will for instance help me understand how big a house we might need.
I look forward to soon talking to you about this and much more. Até breve, p
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Not long ago, I wrote about Portuguese regular verbs and conjugation patterns in the present tense. Now it is time to do the same for the past tense – for both the preterite and imperfect conjugations (pretérito perfeito and pretérito imperfeito correspondingly).
As you’ll see, the preterite and imperfect are “less irregular” than the present tense – there are fewer irregular verbs and no spelling adjustments for regular verbs.
To conjugate Portuguese regular verbs in the preterite tense, remove the infinitive form’s ending – either –ar, –er, or –ir – and add, instead, the following endings to the stem (as marked in bold):
1st conjugation: -ar(falar)
2nd conjugation: -er (correr)
3rd conjugation: -ir (domir)
Eu
falei
corri
dormi
Tu
falaste
correste
dormiste
Ele, ela, você
falou
correu
dormiu
Nós
falamos
corremos
dormimos
Vocês
falaram
correram
dormiram
Eles, elas
falaram
correram
dormiram
Irregular cases
Here’re preterite’s irregular verbs:
eu, tu, ela, nós, vocês/elas
ser
fui, foste, foi, fomos, foram
ir
fui, foste, foi, fomos, foram
estar
estive, estiveste, esteve, estivemos, estiveram
ter
tive, tiveste, teve, tivemos, tiveram
pôr (repor, transpor, compor, etc)
pus, puseste, pôs, pusemos, puseram
haver
houve (third-person only)
dar
dei, deste, deu, demos, deram
fazer
fiz, fizeste, fez, fizemos, fizeram
querer
quis, quiseste, quis, quisemos quiseram
dizer
disse, disseste, disse, dissemos, disseram
poder
pude, pudeste, pôde, pudemos, puderam
vir
vim, vieste, veio, viemos, vieram
ver
vi, viste, viu, vimos, viram
sair
saí, saíste, saiu, saímos, saíram
cair
caí, caíste, caiu, caímos, caíram
saber
soube, soubeste, soube, soubemos, souberam
trazer
trouxe, trouxeste, trouxe, trouxemos, trouxeram
It is worth noticing that ser and ir share the same verb forms in the preterite (discernment between them is left to context).
Likewise, the verbs ter and estar share a de facto pronunciation. Accordingly, we tend not to pronounce estar’s first syllable – (es)tou, (es)tás, etc. – in everyday life, casual speech.