Class #3 with Foster, July, 1, 2026

note: this is a recording of your private coaching session with Foster. No one will see it except you, Alexia, and Foster 🙏

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Session summary

We covered a lot of ground today, starting with some small talk about our trip in Portugal and working through your list of grammar questions one by one: conhecer vs. saber, the preterite vs. imperfeito split, object pronoun placement, and gerunds in Brazilian vs. European Portuguese. We also picked up casual expressions for reacting to things and addressing people, and drilled the irregular preterite verbs that come up constantly in everyday conversation. You're leaning on Spanish less and less. We're getting there.

🏡 Trip talk and the imperfeito

Voltei há uma semana — I returned a week ago (also fine to add "atrás" at the end, even though it's not grammatically necessary)

O tempo estava muito bom — The weather was really nice

When you're not sure which past tense to use for description (weather, how something felt), the imperfeito is almost always the safe choice. "O tempo esteve" isn't wrong, but "O tempo estava" is what a Brazilian would naturally say.

Guimarães — the first city of Portugal, historically

Casa da Benfeitoria — the Airbnb name from the trip

📔 Notebook and "I didn't catch that"

Caderno — notebook

Minhas notinhas — my little notes

Desculpa, não entendi — Sorry, I didn't understand

Não escutei — I didn't hear (that)

Perdão — pardon (Alexia's dad's go-to word for this)

🤝 Conhecer vs. saber

Conhecer — used for people, places, things you've encountered directly: "Você conhece o Rio de Janeiro?" "Eu conheço."

Saber — facts and information: "Você sabe onde fica o Rio de Janeiro no mapa?"

This one maps almost perfectly onto Spanish conocer/saber — the only real difference is Portuguese drops the personal "a" that Spanish requires: "Você conhece a Alexia?" not "conhece a a Alexia."

Pronunciation note: conheço is one of the trickier sounds — the "nh" combination is a nasal palatal sound, a bit like the Italian "gn" in "un poco."

🗣️ Filler words and contractions

Bom / então — good substitutes for the Spanish "pues" filler (further from Spanish = easier to keep separate in your head)

Vocês conseguiram / Você conseguiu? — Were you able to (do it)? (Alexia asks Foster this almost every day: "Você conseguiu descansar?", "Você conseguiu passear com o cachorro?")

Tá / tô — the everyday contracted forms of está and estou. Brazilians use these constantly in casual speech.

🏢 Sede and estrangeiros

Sede — headquarters

Estrangeiros — foreigners (this came up talking about Cincinnati — P&G and GE headquarters bring in a lot of estrangeiros)

⏳ Talking about the past

Quando era criança / menina / mais jovem — When I was a kid / a girl / younger — imperfeito, for ongoing states in the past

Já comi — I already ate

Já fez? — Did you already do it?

Já acabou? — Is it already finished?

Já + preterite is the natural BR-PT equivalent of the Spanish present perfect ("ya he comido" → "já comi"). Portuguese barely uses the pretérito perfeito composto ("tenho comido") the way Spanish does — don't worry about that structure for now.

Qual foi a coisa mais legal que você fez na Flórida? — What was the coolest thing you did in Florida? (good drill question — answer with the verb: "Fizemos...")

🔁 Irregular preterite verbs

Ser — eu sou, você é, nós somos, vocês são · Preterite: fui, foi, fomos, foram

Estar — eu estou, você está, nós estamos, vocês estão · Preterite: estive, esteve, estivemos, estiveram

Ter — eu tenho, você tem, nós temos, vocês têm · Preterite: tive, teve, tivemos, tiveram

Ir — eu vou, você vai, nós vamos, vocês vão · Preterite: fui, foi, fomos, foram (identical to ser — context is the only way to tell them apart)

Fazer — eu faço, você faz, nós fazemos, vocês fazem · Preterite: fiz, fez, fizemos, fizeram

Poder — eu posso, você pode, nós podemos, vocês podem · Preterite: pude, pôde, pudemos, puderam

Querer — eu quero, você quer, nós queremos, vocês querem · Preterite: quis, quis, quisemos, quiseram

Dizer — eu digo, você diz, nós dizemos, vocês dizem · Preterite: disse, disse, dissemos, disseram

Saber — eu sei, você sabe, nós sabemos, vocês sabem · Preterite: soube, soube, soubemos, souberam

Vir — eu venho, você vem, nós vimos, vocês vêm · Preterite: vim, veio, viemos, vieram

Tirar (regular) — tirei, tirou, tiramos, tiraram — "tirar fotos" was our drill example

🎬 Gerunds — Brazil vs. Portugal

Estou falando — I am speaking (Brazil)

Estou a falar — I am speaking (Portugal — quase não se usa gerúndios lá)

Estava falando — I was speaking

O que você estava dizendo? — What were you saying?

Como está indo? — How's it going?

BR-PT defaults to the gerund constantly — it's genuinely one of the easier structures since it maps directly onto English "-ing." Full episode on this below in homework.

👉 Adding pronouns to verbs

Vou pra praia / Vou pro Rio de Janeiro — "pra"/"pro" (not "a," like Spanish) is how Brazilians contract para

Quero te falar — pronoun goes before the verb with "te." "Eu quero falar para você" means the same thing and skips the pronoun placement question entirely.

Vai te ver — [You'll] see you

Já te dou / Vou te dar — I'll give it to you (the "it" is usually dropped — implied by context, not repeated)

Me chama — Call me

Vou te chamar — I'll call you

The pattern: with te, me, nos, the pronoun almost always goes before the verb in spoken BR-PT.

😄 Casual address and reactions

Cara — dude/man (used for anyone in Rio; also how Alexia addresses her girlfriends)

Mano / meu — same idea, more common in São Paulo

Querido / querida — an affectionate way to address someone. "Não dá para errar" with this one — you can't get it wrong (Alexia's dad always says "minha querida filha")

Carregador / carregar — charger / to carry (charge) — good one for practicing the rolled "r"

Sério? — Really?

Não acredito! — I don't believe it!

Que isso? — What?! (shortened from "o que é isso?")

Mentira! — literally "lie," but used affectionately — "no way," "I can't believe it" — not an actual accusation

(For "no manches" from Mexican Spanish — closest matches are sério, não acredito, or que isso)

🙂 People words and feeling good

Menino / menina — boy / girl

Rapaz — guy/dude, usually masculine

Garoto / garota — boy / girl

Legal / ótimo — cool / great (top-10 most-used BR-PT words)

Maneiro — also "cool," less common, sounds a bit more streetwise

📚 Homework

1. How to Use Gerunds in Brazilian Portuguese

A deeper dive into everything we covered on gerunds today — good one to reinforce estou falando vs. estou a falar.

2. Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul

Your friend visiting from Cuiabá, Mato Grosso arrives at the end of July — this episode is about a beautiful spot in the neighboring state, Mato Grosso do Sul. Good conversation fuel for when she's here!

Want more homework or have any questions? Message us on WhatsApp anytime.