Portuguese Demonstrative Pronouns and Determiners
Demonstratives are words we use to point out a person or object, including their location concerning the speaker and hearer. Portuguese demonstratives work along the same lines…
Portuguese Past Subjunctive (Imperfeito do Conjuntivo)
The Subjunctive mood is often a source of much whining and moaning among Portuguese language learners – so many conjugations one must keep track of! We have…
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,…
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 Spelling Reform
In 1990, various Portuguese-speaking countries agreed on a spelling reform to create and maintain a cohesive, international standard across borders. In Portugal, in particular, the spelling reform came…
Portuguese Connected Speech for Enhanced Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension
It is often challenging to keep up with Portuguese native speakers, even for advanced learners. This is probably not because you don’t know the words they’re saying,…
The Portuguese Verb Haver
If you’ve been learning Portuguese for a while, you’ve probably noticed that little word há popping up everywhere. Indeed, há is a verb form of Haver, which…
Gender of Portuguese Words
Like other Romance languages, Portuguese nouns are gender-marked as masculine or feminine. This gender dimension in Portuguese extends nonetheless well beyond nouns. For instance, word classes such…
Portuguese Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns
Reflexive verbs are abundant in Portuguese and many of them are frequently used in everyday life. It is easy for language learners – especially those unfamiliar with…
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).…
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 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.…
Forming the Plural in Portuguese
In Portuguese, not only nouns are spelled differently according to number (singular/plural), but also words belonging to other word classes such as adjectives, demonstratives, or possessive pronouns.…
Here’s Why Portuguese Sounds like Russian
I often hear people saying that Portuguese sounds like Russian! What is so striking about that comment is that Portuguese and Russian are relatively distant languages –…
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…
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,…
Portuguese Prepositions and Contractions
In general, prepositions have an infamous reputation among language learners. Judging by all the whining and moaning I’ve heard from students throughout the years, Portuguese prepositions are…
Portuguese Modal Verbs
Modal verbs help us convey things like necessity, possibility, certainty, doubt, and ability. We use them all the time. You’d agree that the English sentences You must…