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 Possessive Pronouns and Determiners
Portuguese possessive pronouns and determiners indicate possession. In English, these are words like my, your, his, her, our, their (possessive determiners) and mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs (possessive pronouns). Possessive pronouns and determiners…
Portuguese Tongue Twisters to Improve Your Pronunciation Skills
Portuguese tongue twisters are a great way to work on your tongue’s muscle memory and improve your pronunciation skills. Put another way, tongue twisters help you overcome…
Portuguese Prepositions ‘Para’ vs. ‘A’: Know When to Use Either
Language learners often struggle to discern between the prepositions a and para, especially when both are used as prepositions of movement. So, what’s the difference between the…
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 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…
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…
Portuguese Preposition ‘De’
The Portuguese preposition de is a preposition of origin and the Portuguese equivalent of from in English. Additionally, we use de to indicate possession, modify a noun,…
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,…
Poder vs. Conseguir in Portuguese – Tease Them Apart
Portuguese language learners often struggle to discern between Poder and Conseguir, not least native English speakers or anyone using English as a reference since Can usually encompasses…
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…
‘Tão’ v. ‘Tanto’ in Portuguese – Know the Difference
Portuguese language learners often struggle to distinguish between the adverbs tão and tanto. Are you one of them? I get it! After all, tão and tanto are…
Portuguese Irregular Verbs Students Need to Learn as Soon as Possible
Have you noticed that some of the most frequently used verbs in Portuguese happen to be irregular? These verbs are not only high-frequency but they also tend…
Portuguese Gerund: Progressive Tenses and Beyond
The Portuguese Gerund (Gerúndio) is used to build Progressive tenses (such as the Present Continuous) and is the equivalent of the English Present Participle: the -ing verb…
Portuguese Object Pronouns
Little words like lhe, te, or nos often surround Portuguese verbs. Those are object pronouns just like him, you or us in English. Simply put, object pronouns…
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 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,…