I live in Portugal and I speak a little bit of Portuguese

Olá! Today we will talk about nationalities, languages, where you live and where you are. Meanwhile, we will see some useful grammar at this context. This is part of the 3^rd lesson of our extensive course.

Nacionalidades (= nationalities)

We started our lesson by learning some nationalities and learning that they have masculine, feminine, singular and plural forms, as follows:

Nacionalidades

Text 1:

Maybe you already notice that languages and the masculine singular form of nationalities are exactly the same. Let’s see some examples:

Sou português. Falo português.

Ela é espanhola. Ela fala espanhol.

Eles são ingleses. Eles falam inglês.

Elas são alemãs. Elas falam alemão.

The verb “falar” is a regular verb with ending “-ar”. Other regular verbs ending in “-ar” are conjugated in the same way as the verb “falar”.

For example, if someone asks you:

Que línguas fala? (= What languages do you speak? – formal)

Que línguas falas? (= What languages do you speak? –  informal)

You can answer:

Falo inglês e um pouco de português.

Falo português muito bem e também falo espanhol.

Dialogue 1 (formal)

– Bom dia! Como se chama? (Good Morning! What is your name?)

– Bom dia! Chamo-me Pedro Guedes. (Good Morning! My name is Pedro Guedes.)

– Qual é a sua nacionalidade? (What is your nationality?)

– Sou português. (I am Portuguese).

– Que línguas fala?            (Which languages do you speak?)

– Falo português, inglês e espanhol. (I speak Portuguese, English and Spanish.)

Where do you live

The verb “morar” is a verb ending in “-ar”. It’s a regular verb and is conjugated like the verb “falar”.

Eu moro

Tu moras

Ele, ela, você mora

Nós moramos

Eles, elas, vocês moram

We already know that “where” means “onde” in Portuguese language. So we can easily know to answer to the following questions:

1. Onde moras? (informal)

– Moro em Cascais.

2. Onde mora? (formal)

– Moro em Barcelona.

3. Moram em Portugal? (you – plural)

– Não. Moramos na Bélgica.

Where you are

In order to say where you are, you will need another verb: the verb “estar”. The verb “estar” is a verb ending in “-ar”, but it is an irregular verb.

Both verbs “ser” and “estar” means “to be”. Although, they are used in different contexts.

The verb “ser” indicates permanent location or state:

Sou da Rússia. (I am from Russia. – permanent state)

Moscovo é na Rússia. (Moscow is in Russia. – permanent location)

The verb “estar” indicates a temporary location or state:

Estou em Portugal. (I am in Portugal. – temporary location)

Estou bem, obrigado. (I’m fine, thank you. – temporary state)

As you can see, nationalities and location of cities cannot change – they are permanent. By the way, when we say “permanent”, it means that doesn’t change fast or easily. That’s why we say “sou casado” (I’m married) and “sou professor” (I am a teacher). Despite it can change, it doesn’t change quickly. On the other hand, location of people and objects and mood can change quickly. So, they are considered temporary things.

Dialogue 2 (informal)

In this lesson we also learnt numbers from 101 to 1000. So here they are:

Conclusion

Did you like this lesson? It was useful for you? If yes, share and help others learning Portuguese.

You can also find this information in this video:

Finally, don’t forget to leave us your feedback and suggestions on comments below. We are always glad to know about your thoughts!

Caravela – your Portuguese school in Caldas da Rainha and Matosinhos.