Brazilian Portuguese/Chapter 2

A Memorial to Juscelino Kubitschek in Brasília, the "Bossa Nova President" (O Presidente Bossa Nova)

Chapter 2 - Profissões

This Lesson's Vocabulary
Professions and their Variations
Adjectives

This Lesson's Grammar
Ser and its Uses
Proper Use of Adjectives
Fazer

Dialogue

What do you do?

Pedro: João, o que você faz?

João: Sou médico. E você?

Pedro: Que coincidência! Também sou médico!

João: Que interessante!

O que você faz? - What do you do?

o que - what (lit. "the what")

você faz? - do you do? (lit. "you do")

faz - you/he does; conjugated from the irregular verb Fazer

Sou médico. E você? - I'm a doctor. And you?

sou - I'm; conjugated from the irregular verb Ser (lit. "am". Note that the pronoun there is hidden. "Eu sou" = "I am")

médico - doctor

e você? - And you?

Que coincidência! Também sou médico! - What a coincidence! I'm a doctor too!

que - what

também - too, also, either

Que interessante! - Interesting! (lit. What interesting!)

Structures: Que ...!

The structure "Que...!" in portuguese is, in certain ways, unique. The structure that is similar to it in the English language is "That`s...!" or sometimes only a word: "Word!". For example: in the dialogue João says "Que interessante!", in this case it would be like an "Interesting!" (lit. That`s interesting!). Examples of similar "Que...!" structures in english:

1. That`s...! That is nice!; In portuguese: "Legal!", "Isso é legal!".
2. Word! Wonderful!; in portuguese: "Maravilhoso!".

Pronunciation

The Acute Accent

The acute accent marks, in general sense, the stressed syllable, which has an important word distinction function in Portuguese, as in:

• Sabia (You-singular, he, she or it knew or used to know)
• Sábia (Wise-feminine)
• Sabiá (Bird family common in Brazil)

Words that don't have their stressed syllable on its standart position, an accent is used. The acute accent can be found above the five vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú), and it also brings some extra information about the vowel openness itself.

The grapheme	Á	É	Í	Ó	Ú
The [phonetic transcription]	a	ɛ	i	ɔ	u
Approximation in English	Father	Bed	See	Saw	Pool
Example	Água	Café	Ímã	Óbvio	Último

The Circumflex Accent

The circumflex accent marks the stressed syllable, like the acute accent. The distinction between them is important to distinguish words, as in:

• Avo (Counter of denominators in fractions, when the denominator is a large number)
• Avó (Grandmother)
• Avô (Grandfather)

Unlike the acute accent, the circumflex can olny appear above the letters A, E and O. The circumflex also carries information about the openness of the vowels.

The grapheme	Â	Ê	Ô
The [phonetic transcription]	ɐ*	e	o
Approximation in English	Above	Say	Know
Example	Lâmpada	Bêbado	Robô

ɐ* Exists in specific loan words, like Dâbliu (Double-U). The actual grapheme always appears in front of N or M, making it sound nasal, just like Ã.

Vocabulary

• 
  o artista
• 
  a médica
• 
  o advogado
• 
  o policial
• 
  o escritor
• 
  o professor
• 
  o bombeiro
• 
  o mecânico

Watch out - professor can be used for both teachers and professors, although mestre can also be used for the latter.

Varying Genders of Nouns

Brazilian Portuguese • Chapter 2 Varying Genders
Inglês	Masculine	Feminine
Artist	Artista	Artista
Doctor	Médico	Médica
Lawyer	Advogado	Advogada
Policeman	Policial	Policial
Writer	Escritor	Escritora
Teacher	Professor	Professora
Firefighter	Bombeiro	Bombeira
Mechanic	Mecânico	Mecânica

Adjectives

Adjectives that are the same for masculine or feminine nouns. Ele/ela é interessante. Ele/ela é inteligente. Ele/ela é diferente. Ele/ela é normal. Ele/ela é valente. Ele/ela é irritante. Ele/ela é útil. Ele/ela é capaz. Ele/ela é sensível. Ele/ela é sutil. Ele/ela é devagar. Ele/ela é triste. Ele/ela é feliz.

Adjectives that change for masculine and feminine nouns. Ele é bonito. Ela é bonita. Ele é esperto. Ela é esperta. feio rápido burro grosseiro charmoso apático

Generally adjectives ending with A or O are feminine and masculine

Grammar

Ser

Ser is the other verb that means "to be" (The first one is the verb estar). It is used to express a permanent condition or fact.

Brazilian Portuguese Usage • Chapter 2 Ser To Be (factual)
Permanent Description
What Something's Made Of
Permanent Facts

Here is its conjugation:

Brazilian Portuguese Verb • Chapter 2 Ser To Be (factual)
Eu sou	Nós somos
Tu és	Vós sois
Você é	Vocês são
Ele/Ela é	Eles/Elas são

Fazer

Fazer means to do or to make. It can be used interchangeable between the two definitions. It is an irregular verb, so it doesn't follow the rules of other -er verbs.

Brazilian Portuguese Verb • Chapter 2 Fazer To Do/Make
Eu faço	Nós fazemos
Tu fazes	Vós fazeis
Você faz	Vocês fazem
Ele/Ela faz	Eles/Elas fazem

Here are a few examples of its uses:

O que o médico faz? (Questions are discussed in the next section)

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun by giving more information about it. They answer the questions, "what kind?", "which one?", "how many?", and "how much?".

Subject-Adjective Agreement

Um pintor faz pinturas.

Culture

Bossa Nova

Bossa Nova is a movement of the MPB(Música popular brasileira/Popular Brazilian Music)that has been popularized by artists like Tom Jobim and João Gilberto.

This musical style evolved from samba but it's more complex harmonically, less precursive and more refined.

Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis was born in June 21 1939. He is one of the most famous Brazilian writers. Machado de Assis was born in Rio de Janeiro, that was the capital of The Empire of Brazil.

He was a playwright,novelist, short stories writer(Contos, in Brazil).