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 đ
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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.
đĄ Trip talk and the imperfeito
Voltei hĂĄ uma semana â I returned a week ago (also fine to add "atrĂĄs" at the end, even though it's not grammatically necessary)
O tempo estava muito bom â 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.
GuimarĂŁes â the first city of Portugal, historically
Casa da Benfeitoria â the Airbnb name from the trip
đ Notebook and "I didn't catch that"
Caderno â notebook
Minhas notinhas â my little notes
Desculpa, nĂŁo entendi â Sorry, I didn't understand
NĂŁo escutei â I didn't hear (that)
PerdĂŁo â pardon (Alexia's dad's go-to word for this)
đ€ Conhecer vs. saber
Conhecer â used for people, places, things you've encountered directly: "VocĂȘ conhece o Rio de Janeiro?" "Eu conheço."
Saber â facts and information: "VocĂȘ sabe onde fica o Rio de Janeiro no mapa?"
This one maps almost perfectly onto Spanish conocer/saber â the only real difference is Portuguese drops the personal "a" that Spanish requires: "VocĂȘ conhece a Alexia?" not "conhece a a Alexia."
Pronunciation note: conheço is one of the trickier sounds â the "nh" combination is a nasal palatal sound, a bit like the Italian "gn" in "un poco."
đŁïž Filler words and contractions
Bom / entĂŁo â good substitutes for the Spanish "pues" filler (further from Spanish = easier to keep separate in your head)
VocĂȘs conseguiram / VocĂȘ conseguiu? â Were you able to (do it)? (Alexia asks Foster this almost every day: "VocĂȘ conseguiu descansar?", "VocĂȘ conseguiu passear com o cachorro?")
TĂĄ / tĂŽ â the everyday contracted forms of estĂĄ and estou. Brazilians use these constantly in casual speech.
đą Sede and estrangeiros
Sede â headquarters
Estrangeiros â foreigners (this came up talking about Cincinnati â P&G and GE headquarters bring in a lot of estrangeiros)
âł Talking about the past
Quando era criança / menina / mais jovem â When I was a kid / a girl / younger â imperfeito, for ongoing states in the past
JĂĄ comi â I already ate
JĂĄ fez? â Did you already do it?
JĂĄ acabou? â Is it already finished?
JĂĄ + preterite is the natural BR-PT equivalent of the Spanish present perfect ("ya he comido" â "jĂĄ comi"). Portuguese barely uses the pretĂ©rito perfeito composto ("tenho comido") the way Spanish does â don't worry about that structure for now.
Qual foi a coisa mais legal que vocĂȘ fez na FlĂłrida? â What was the coolest thing you did in Florida? (good drill question â answer with the verb: "Fizemos...")
đ Irregular preterite verbs
Ser â eu sou, vocĂȘ Ă©, nĂłs somos, vocĂȘs sĂŁo · Preterite: fui, foi, fomos, foram
Estar â eu estou, vocĂȘ estĂĄ, nĂłs estamos, vocĂȘs estĂŁo · Preterite: estive, esteve, estivemos, estiveram
Ter â eu tenho, vocĂȘ tem, nĂłs temos, vocĂȘs tĂȘm · Preterite: tive, teve, tivemos, tiveram
Ir â eu vou, vocĂȘ vai, nĂłs vamos, vocĂȘs vĂŁo · Preterite: fui, foi, fomos, foram (identical to ser â context is the only way to tell them apart)
Fazer â eu faço, vocĂȘ faz, nĂłs fazemos, vocĂȘs fazem · Preterite: fiz, fez, fizemos, fizeram
Poder â eu posso, vocĂȘ pode, nĂłs podemos, vocĂȘs podem · Preterite: pude, pĂŽde, pudemos, puderam
Querer â eu quero, vocĂȘ quer, nĂłs queremos, vocĂȘs querem · Preterite: quis, quis, quisemos, quiseram
Dizer â eu digo, vocĂȘ diz, nĂłs dizemos, vocĂȘs dizem · Preterite: disse, disse, dissemos, disseram
Saber â eu sei, vocĂȘ sabe, nĂłs sabemos, vocĂȘs sabem · Preterite: soube, soube, soubemos, souberam
Vir â eu venho, vocĂȘ vem, nĂłs vimos, vocĂȘs vĂȘm · Preterite: vim, veio, viemos, vieram
Tirar (regular) â tirei, tirou, tiramos, tiraram â "tirar fotos" was our drill example
đŹ Gerunds â Brazil vs. Portugal
Estou falando â I am speaking (Brazil)
Estou a falar â I am speaking (Portugal â quase nĂŁo se usa gerĂșndios lĂĄ)
Estava falando â I was speaking
O que vocĂȘ estava dizendo? â What were you saying?
Como estĂĄ indo? â How's it going?
BR-PT defaults to the gerund constantly â it's genuinely one of the easier structures since it maps directly onto English "-ing." Full episode on this below in homework.
đ Adding pronouns to verbs
Vou pra praia / Vou pro Rio de Janeiro â "pra"/"pro" (not "a," like Spanish) is how Brazilians contract para
Quero te falar â pronoun goes before the verb with "te." "Eu quero falar para vocĂȘ" means the same thing and skips the pronoun placement question entirely.
Vai te ver â [You'll] see you
JĂĄ te dou / Vou te dar â I'll give it to you (the "it" is usually dropped â implied by context, not repeated)
Me chama â Call me
Vou te chamar â I'll call you
The pattern: with te, me, nos, the pronoun almost always goes before the verb in spoken BR-PT.
đ Casual address and reactions
Cara â dude/man (used for anyone in Rio; also how Alexia addresses her girlfriends)
Mano / meu â same idea, more common in SĂŁo Paulo
Querido / querida â an affectionate way to address someone. "NĂŁo dĂĄ para errar" with this one â you can't get it wrong (Alexia's dad always says "minha querida filha")
Carregador / carregar â charger / to carry (charge) â good one for practicing the rolled "r"
SĂ©rio? â Really?
NĂŁo acredito! â I don't believe it!
Que isso? â What?! (shortened from "o que Ă© isso?")
Mentira! â literally "lie," but used affectionately â "no way," "I can't believe it" â not an actual accusation
(For "no manches" from Mexican Spanish â closest matches are sĂ©rio, nĂŁo acredito, or que isso)
đ People words and feeling good
Menino / menina â boy / girl
Rapaz â guy/dude, usually masculine
Garoto / garota â boy / girl
Legal / Ăłtimo â cool / great (top-10 most-used BR-PT words)
Maneiro â also "cool," less common, sounds a bit more streetwise
đ Homework
1. How to Use Gerunds in Brazilian Portuguese
A deeper dive into everything we covered on gerunds today â good one to reinforce estou falando vs. estou a falar.
Your friend visiting from CuiabĂĄ, Mato Grosso arrives at the end of July â 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.