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Verb 'ser'/Verbo "ser"

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You learned, at the last lesson, that there were two copula verbs in Portuguese. You've already learned the first one, "estar". Now it is time to learn the other one, ser, which denotes a permanent situation or condition. It is not a regular verb. The verb ser is conjugated in the present indicative as follows:

Person Portuguese English
1. s. eu sou I am
2. s. você é you are
3. s. ele/ela é he/she/it is
1. p. nós somos we are
2. p. vocês são you all are
3. p. eles/elas são they are

See some examples:

Nós somos alunos. ("We are students.")
Eles são felizes. ("They are happy.")

To illustrate the difference between "ser" and "estar", compare the next two phrases:

Eu estou alegre."I am happy (right now)."
Eu sou alegre."I am happy (a happy person)."

Possessive pronouns/Pronomes possessivos

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The possessive pronouns (pronomes possessivos) in Portuguese are the same than the possessive adjectives. As adjectives, they agree in gender and number with the possessed thing. They are:

Possessive pronouns and adjectives
Portuguese English
Masculine Feminine Adjective Pronoun
Singular Plural Singular Plural
meu meus minha minhas my mine
seu seus sua suas his, her, its his, hers, its
nosso nossos nossa nossas our ours
seu seus sua suas their theirs

Just like adjectives and nouns, the plural forms are made adding -s.

meu apartamento ("my apartment/flat")
meus apartamentos ("my apartments/flats")
minha casa ("my house")
minhas casas ("my houses")

The inflection patterns of "teu" (compare with "tu") and "seu" are the alike.

seu livro ("his/her/its/their book")
seus livros ("his/her/its/their books")
sua revista ("his/her/its/their magazine")
suas revistas ("his/her/its/their magazines")

The pronouns "vosso" (compare with "vós") and "nosso" (compare with "nós") are inflected just like adjectives.

nosso trabalho ("our work")
nossos trabalhos ("our works")
nossa piada ("our joke")
nossas piadas ("our jokes")


As "você" and "vocês" are address pronouns, they behave as third person pronouns. So, the possessive forms of them are "seu"-words. This is a important and confuse point, as you saw that "seu" can mean either "your(s)", "his", "her(s)", "its" and "their(s)". So instead of using "seu" (which have that lot of meanings) one changes it for:

Portuguese English
dele of him
dela of her
deles of them (masculine)
delas of them (feminine)
de vocês of you all

Those are all contractions of the preposition "de" and the personal pronouns "ele", "ela", "eles", "elas". The same rule applies for "vocês" (but no contraction can be made between "de" and "vocês"). So, the possessive form used is "de vocês" ("of you").

o escritório dele ("his office")
o escritório dela ("her office")
o escritório deles ("their office")
o escritório delas ("their office")
o escritório de vocês ("your office")

At everyday language, "seu" is used only as possessive form of "você", making things much easier.

But some even do not use "seu" for "você", because of the confuse meanings it may have. Those use "teu" instead. It is grammatically wrong because "teu" is the possessive form of "tu". Grammatically, one must use the pronoun alongside with its respective possessive form: "tu" with "teu" and "você" with "seu".

Concluding, the possessive pronouns are:

Possessive pronouns and adjectives (informal speech)
Portuguese English
Masculine Feminine
Singular Plural Singular Plural
meu meus minha minhas my, mine
seu seus sua suas your, yours (using "você")
dele of him, of it
dela of her, of it
nosso nossos nossa nossas our, ours
de vocês your, yours
deles of them (masculine)
delas of them (feminine)

Common greetings, thanks and goodbyes/Cumprimentos, agradecimentos e despedidas comuns

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Portuguese greetings ("cumprimentos") and goodbyes ("despedidas") are quite simple. The most usual ones among them are:

Common greetings
Portuguese English Notes
oi, olá hello, hi
bom dia good morning (lit. "good day") it is spoken only at morning
boa tarde good afternoon
boa noite good evening
Common goodbyes
Portuguese English Notes
tchau bye
até (a próxima vez) see you (lit. "until the next time")
boa noite good night


This obrigado means "thank you" (not to be confused with "obligated" means obrigado).


Gender of the speaker Singular
Masculine obrigado
Feminine obrigada

Some actually say "muito obrigado" insted of "obrigado" ("muito" means "very").

Obrigado por sua ajuda! ("Thank you for your help!")
Muito obrigado por sua ajuda! ("Thank you very much for your help!")

Orally, there is also a reduced form of "obrigado":

'Brigado por sua ajuda! ("Thanks for your help!")

Days of the Week and Months/ Dias da semana e meses

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Days of the week/Dias da semana

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Most of the names of the days of the week today, are adaptations made in the medieval age from the Classical Latin roots, this is true to other Latin based languages such as Spanish or Italian. But in Portuguese this was made in an easier way, naming it after fairs (naming system used in Ecclesiastical Latin). So, except for Sunday and Saturday, the days of the week are formed by ordinal numbers plus the Portuguese word for "fair":

Portuguese English
Word Latin root Literal meaning Word
(o) domingo dies dominicu "Lord's day" (the) Sunday
(a) segunda-feira secunda feria "second fair" (the) Monday
(a) terça-feira tertia feria "third fair" (the) Tuesday
(a) quarta-feira quarta feria "fourth fair" (the) Wednesday
(a) quinta-feira quinta feria "fifth fair" (the) Thursday
(a) sexta-feira sexta feria "sixth fair" (the) Friday
(o) sábado sabbatum "shabat day" (the) Saturday

For time expressions, the copula verb used is "ser".

Hoje é sábado. ("Today is Saturday.")
Meu aniversário é em uma sexta-feira. ("My birthday is in a Friday.")

Note:
Today in a colloquial and informal setting, if the context is already known, it is becoming common and acceptable to drop the "feira" section. "Vou lá na sexta."/"I will go there Friday."

Months/Meses

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English Portuguese
January Janeiro
February Fevereiro
March Março
April Abril
May Maio
June Junho
July Julho
August Agosto
September Setembro
October Outubro
November Novembro
December Dezembro

Introduction to verbs/Introdução a verbos

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The infinitive of all verbs in Portuguese language end in -r. The vowel before the -r is called the stem vowel, and it rules the conjugation of the verb. The root is what comes before the stem vowel. There are three stem vowels, that divides the verbs in three groups:

  • first conjugation ("primeira conjugação"): infinitive ends in -ar.
  • second conjugation ("segunda conjugação"): infinitive ends in -er.
  • third conjugation ("terceira conjugação"): infinitive ends in -ir.

Also, there are some infinitives that end in -or. Those are all derivate forms of the verb "pôr", ("to put") that is an irregular verb. All its derivates follow "pôr"'s conjugation pattern. This verb comes from the old Portuguese "poer" (Latin "ponere"), so all verbs in -or are considered to be irregular verbs of the second conjugation.

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John está indo para a aula de português. Outra estudante de português, Andréia, fala com ele.
Andréia: Boa tarde!
John: Boa tarde!
Andréia: Por favor, que dia é hoje?
John: Hoje é segunda-feira.
Andréia: Temos aula hoje?
John: Desculpe mas não sei.
Andréia: Tudo bem, muito obrigada de qualquer jeito!
John: De nada!
Andréia: Nós estamos atrasados! Rápido, a aula já está começando!
John: É mesmo!

Vocabulary
Word Translation Notes
começar start
de of
de qualquer jeito anyway lit. of any way
desculpe sorry
(o) dia (the) day masculine noun (though ends in -a)
é mesmo! really!
hoje today
não no interjection, never used with nouns.
o que what, what thing
por favor please lit. for favour
que what, which
que dia é hoje? what day is it? lit. what day is today?
rápido quick
saber to know
segunda-feira Monday lit. second fair
sobre about