PORTUGUESE: AN ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR PORTUGUESE: AN ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR Amélia P Hutchinson and Janet Lloyd London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © Amélia P.Hutchinson and Janet Lloyd 1996 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Hutchinson, Amélia P., 1949– Portuguese: an essential grammar/Amélia P.Hutchinson and Janet Lloyd. (Essential grammar) Includes index. 1. Portuguese language—Grammar. 2. Portuguese language—Textbooks for foreign speakers—English. I.Lloyd, Janet, 1968–. II. Title. III. Series. PC5067.3.H88 1996 469.82′421—dc20 96–36 ISBN 0-203-97865-X Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-13707-1 (hbk) 0-415-13708-X (pbk) CONTENTS Foreword xii How to use this book xiv PART I: AN ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR 1 Pronunciation and spelling 2 1.1 Vowels 2 1.2 Consonants 3 1.3 Diphthongs 5 1.4 Stress 6 1.5 Accents 7 2 Nouns 8 2.1 Gender I: masculine and feminine 8 2.2 Gender II: forming the feminine 10 2.3 Number: forming the plural 13 2.4 Diminutives and augmentatives 15 2.5 Compound nouns 18 2.6 Collective nouns 19 3 Articles 20 3.1 Definite article 20 3.2 Use of the definite article 20 3.3 Omission of the definite article 21 3.4 Contraction of the definite article 22 3.5 Indefinite article 23 3.6 Use of the indefinite article 24 v 3.7 Omission of the indefinite article 25 3.8 Contraction of the indefinite article 25 4 Adjectives 27 4.1 Gender 27 4.2 Number 29 4.3 Degree 30 4.4 Agreement 34 4.5 Position in the sentence 34 5 Pronouns 36 5.1 Personal pronouns 36 5.2 Possessive pronouns and adjectives 45 5.3 Demonstrative pronouns 45 5.4 Relative pronouns 49 5.5 Interrogative pronouns 51 5.6 Indefinite pronouns and adjectives 53 6 Numerals 56 6.1 Cardinal, ordinal and multiplicative numbers 56 6.2 Collective numerals 57 6.3 Use of the conjunction e with numerals 58 6.4 Roman numerals 58 7 Verbs 186 7.1 Moods and tenses 60 7.2 Indicative mood 61 7.3 Subjunctive mood 74 7.4 Imperative mood 80 7.5 Infinitive 81 7.6 Present Participle 82 7.7 Compound Infinitive and Compound Present Participle 83 7.8 Past Participle 83 vi 7.9 Passive voice 84 7.10 Auxiliary verbs 85 7.11 Impersonal, unipersonal and defective verbs 89 7.12 Reflexive verbs 90 7.13 Changing vowel sounds in verbal conjugation 91 8 Adverbs 93 8.1 Uses of the adverb 93 8.2 Adverbs in -mente 94 8.3 Other adverbs 95 8.4 Position 95 8.5 Degree 96 9 Conjunctions 97 9.1 Co-ordinating conjunctions 97 9.2 Subordinating conjunctions 99 10 Prepositions 102 10.1 Prepositions 102 10.2 Prepositional phrases 102 10.3 Contraction of preposition+article or pronoun 103 10.4 Verbs followed by a preposition 103 11 Additional notes on Portuguese usage 105 11.1 Gente/a gente 105 11.2 Tudo/todo 105 11.3 Por/para 106 11.4 A/para 107 11.5 Desde…até/de…a 107 11.6 Próximo/seguinte 108 11.7 Tão/tanto 108 11.8 Affirmative/negative 108 11.9 Ainda/já 109 vii 11.10 Prepositions of time 109 11.11 Prepositions with means of transport 110 11.12 Word order 110 11.13 Ser/estar 114 PART II: LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS 12 Socializing 116 12.1 General greetings 116 12.2 Taking leave 117 12.3 Greeting/taking leave according to time of day 118 12.4 Attracting attention 119 12.5 Seasonal greetings 121 12.6 Personal greetings 121 12.7 Congratulations 121 12.8 Good wishes 121 12.9 Introductions 122 12.10 Forms of address 122 12.11 Talking about one’s health 126 12.12 Places and locations 128 12.13 Talking about the weather 130 13 Exchanging factual information 132 13.1 Identifying people 132 13.2 Identifying things 134 13.3 Asking for information 135 13.4 Reporting, describing and narrating 136 13.5 Letter writing 139 13.6 Correcting assumptions 142 14 Getting things done 144 14.1 Suggesting a course of action 144 14.2 Offering to do something 144 viii 14.3 Requesting others to do something 145 14.4 Inviting others to do something 145 14.5 Asking for and giving advice 146 14.6 Warning others 147 14.7 Instructing others to do/not to do something 147 14.8 Requesting assistance 148 14.9 Stating and finding out whether something is compulsory 148 14.10 Seeking, giving, refusing permission 149 14.11 Expressing and finding out about need 149 14.12 Enquiring and expressing intention, want or desire 150 15 Finding out and expressing intellectual attitudes 151 15.1 Agreement and disagreement 151 15.2 Knowing something or someone 152 15.3 Remembering something or someone 153 15.4 Possibility and impossibility 154 15.5 Logical conclusions 155 15.6 Incomprehension and clarification 156 15.7 Certainty and uncertainty 157 16 Judgement and evaluation 158 16.1 Expressing pleasure or liking 158 16.2 Expressing displeasure or dislike 159 16.3 Enquiring about pleasure/displeasure, liking/dislike 159 16.4 Enquiring and expressing interest/lack of interest 160 16.5 Expressing surprise 161 16.6 Expressing hope 162 16.7 Enquiring about and expressing satisfaction/ 162 dissatisfaction 16.8 Expressing disappointment 163 16.9 Enquiring about and expressing worry or fear 163 16.10 Enquiring about and expressing preference 164 ix 16.11 Expressing gratitude 165 16.12 Expressing sympathy 165 16.13 Expressing happiness and unhappiness 166 16.14 Apologizing 166 16.15 Enquiring about and expressing approval/ disapproval 167 16.16 Expressing appreciation 168 16.17 Expressing regret 168 16.18 Expressing indifference 169 16.19 Accusing 170 16.20 Enquiring about and expressing capability/ incapability 170 PART III: BRAZILIAN VARIANTS 1–11 Brazilian essential grammar B1 Pronunciation and spelling 173 B1.1 Vowels 175 B1.1.1 Oral vowels 175 B1.2 Consonants 175 B1.3 Diphthongs 176 B1.3.2 Nasal diphthongs 176 B2 Nouns 177 B2.4 Diminutives and augmentatives 177 B2.4.1 Diminutives 177 B2.4.3 Preferred diminutives 177 B3 Articles 178 B3.2 Use of the definite article 178 B3.2.1 With first names 178 B3.2.2 With titles 178 B3.2.5 Before possessive adjectives 178 B4 Adjectives 179 B4.3 Degree 30