Study Portuguese Abroad

O que é isto?

Most pronouns in Portuguese are connected by gender to their objects.  However, the demonstrative pronouns isto, isso, and aquilo are not gender-specific. Instead, they remain the same for both masculine and feminine objects. For this reason, they are called “invariable.” However, you still need to choose the correct one for your Portuguese sentences. The functions of invariable demonstrative pronouns are based upon the distance between the speaker and the object to which the speaker is referring, and also the second speaker, the person who is listening to the sentence. Sound confusing? Let’s take a look at the words and some examples to clear up the mystery. Like everything else you learn, it becomes easy once you break it down into manageable parts.

1. In Portuguese the invariable demonstrative pronouns are isto, isso, and aquilo.

2. Isto and isso mean this, and aquilo means that.

Examples:

A.  When the object is near the speaker, use isto.

Question:     O que é isto?
Answer:            É um livro.  |  É uma formiga.

B.  When the object is nearer the person to whom you are speaking, use isso.

Question:     O que é isso?
Answer:            É um livro de contos. |  É uma rosa de papel.

C.  When the object is far from both speakers in the conversation, use aquilo.

Question:     O que é aquilo?
Answer:           É um carro. |  É uma árvore.

Now when you create your Portuguese sentences, you will be able to choose the right word. Practice what you have learned and soon the correct choices will become automatic, and that is what leads to fluency! Boa Sorte!

Mastering the finer points of Portuguese grammar will have you sounding more natural and accomplished no matter what your current skill level is. Indeed, your language learning success depends on paying attention to the details. Contractions are an important detail because they occur so frequently in Portuguese. As you know from English usage, contractions are formed when two words combine to create a single new word. Let’s look at four significant combinations closely.

The Portuguese word for the preposition of is often used with the definite article, the.

The following examples will clarify how the contractions are formed and used:

1. The English of + the in Portuguese is de + o.  The resulting contraction is: do

Here it is used in a sentence: Eu gosto do livro.   (I like the book.)

2. The English of + the can also be expressed in Portuguese as de + a, resulting in this contraction: da (a casa da Maria = Mary’s house)

For example: Ela está em casa da Maria. (She is at Mary’s house.)

3. The English of + the can also be expressed in Portuguese as de + os, which combines to form this contraction: dos

Look at this sample sentence: Ela gosta dos seus primos. (She likes her cousins. )

4. The English of + the in Portuguese can be de + as, and creates the contraction: das

Used in a sentence, we say: Ela gosta das suas primas. (She likes her cousins.) (female cousins)

The differences are subtle, but study the examples and see if you can create your own sentences using these contractions.

Boa Sorte!

Acquiring knowledge and improving one’s self is vital in today’s ever challenging world of business. No one knows this better than Maria Oliveira who was born in the Portuguese Azores Islands and at the age of 19, unable to speak English when she came to the U.S.

Maria turned her language barrier into an opportunity that resulted in her building a Spanish language empire, Maria Oliveira Language Learning School.

She is a Tenacious Woman – who has Tenacity, Empowerment, Nacreous, Ambition, Courage, Intuition, Optimistic, Unique, Success, who paired it with Will-power, Originality, Motivation, Astute, a Nurturing spirit to fulfill her dream.

Join Host Jewel Daniels and Guest Maria Oliveira as they chat about the challenge of learning a second language and the difficulties in developing and operating a language learning center.

Date: September 13th
Time: 7 pm.

If you have any questions, please visit us
online at www.tenaciouswoman.biz
or call us at 912.443.1995.

One of many memorable days on our recent language immersion tour of the Azores Islands took place while visiting Fajã de Santo Cristo on São Jorge island. A fajã is a flat, often sloping piece of land found along the coast and is formed by the lava flows from volcanos and debris from crumbling cliffs. São Jorge has 46 fajãs, more than any of the other eight islands.

The Fajã de Santo Cristo may be the most beautiful fajã in São Jorge, but it is certainly not the easiest one to visit. After parking the car at fajã dos Cubres, there is a 9 kilometer walk, more than 5 miles, to the Fajã de Santo Cristo itself. For this reason this is an optional trip on our tours. But on this fine day everyone agreed to take the trip, and it was well worth the effort. Along the way we enjoyed fantastic views of the islands of Pico and Faial. The weather was perfect, and we hardly noticed how long a hike it was.

On arrival we were so struck with the beauty of the place that we sat for a while just taking it in. This fajã encompasses a lagoon before it curves away into the sea. Across the lagoon are a few houses belonging to local residents, a church and a small restaurant. We admired the reflections of the mountains in the lagoon, and then we decided to explore.

As we hiked around the fajã we watched the shifting views of the land and ocean, peered into an almost hidden underground cave, and decided that yes, Fajã de Santo Cristo is probably the most beautiful fajã of all. But the best was yet to come.

Because the tide was out we were able to see vast clumps of lapas along the shoreline. Lapas are limpets, a mollusk with a dome-like shell that clings to rocks to keep from being washed out to sea. And they are very tasty! Using a small knife we pried them off the rocks and ate them without any preparation at all! They are safe to eat raw as we can certainly attest to, and they are delicious that way, but many people grill them or make a stew of them with rice. Eating them as we did we were reminded of oysters, clams, and other shellfish that can be eaten fresh from the waters. When we had our fill of lapas we walked back to the lagoon and spent some time digging clams, which we also ate on the spot!

We eventually wandered over to the buildings we had seen and there found a pleasant restaurant to enjoy coffee and rest from the exertion of feeding ourselves. It was time to leave when we saw the clouds starting to change. Sure enough, on our hike back to the car it sprinkled on us, and somehow this was as much fun as anything else we had done that day. Wet and happily tired we climbed into the car and headed back to the main road.

Along the way a local rancher was guiding his herd of cows to a new pasture and he clearly didn’t care if we were in his path. Suddenly we were surrounded by cows on all sides. Surrounded first by the glorious ocean and now surrounded by a sea of cows, we laughed and decided it was the perfect end to a perfect day!