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| jrcls | Monday 31st of July 2006 10:04:21 AM |
| Short forms, preposition + definite article: da/do/das/dos, na/etc, pela/etc - Folks, there are a number of short words in portuguese that are formed by appending an article or a pronoun to a preposition. They may sound a bit confusing to beginners, but they are important for the rythm of the spoken language. Once you master the general rules, it´s easy to use them. I think the same process happens with italian language (words like \"della\", \"nella\" etc) and in french (\"d\'un\", for instance), but in portuguese such constructions are much more common. I\'ll try to write down those rules, and provide some examples to drill each case. Naturally, those rules have exceptions, but... give us a break for now :-) Let\'s prepare some examples beforehand, they\'ll help us in the process. Places - some places (cities, states, rivers, countries etc) have \"gender\" and some don\'t :-) Let\'s use countries: A Alemanha - Germany, A França - France, A Suíça - Switzerland O Brasil - Brazil, O Canadá - Canada, O Japão - Japan Os Estados Unidos - The USA As Ilhas Maurício - Mauritius Cuba - Cuba, Portugal - Portugal Things A Casa - The House, A Mesa - The Table, A Piscina - The Pool O Carro - The Car, O Livro - The Book People names A Maria - Maria O João - John As Garotas - The Girls Os Garotos - The Boys DE + definite article \"DE\" may translate to \"Of\" (things, people - genitive case) or to \"From\" (places) DE + A = DA A casa DA Maria - Maria´s house A cor DA casa - The color of the house Ele é DA Alemanha - He\'s from Germany DE + O = DO A casa DO João - John\'s house A cor DO carro - The color of the car As garotas são do Japão - The girls are from Japan DE + AS = DAS, DE + OS = DOS A casa DAS garotas - The girls\' house Ela é DOS Estados Unidos - She\'s from the USA Ele é DAS Ilhas Maurício - He\'s from Mauritius Finally, you can use \"DE\" alone, but with places; in portuguese, things and people names always have a \"gender\". Maria é DE Portugal - Maria is from Portugal Os garotos são DE Cuba - The boys are from Cuba EM + definite article \"EM\" may translate to a number of english words: at, by, during, in, inside, into, on, upon, within etc etc. It\'s a word to refer to places in general. EM + A = NA O livro está NA mesa - The book is on the table :-) João está NA França - John is in France Maria pulou NA piscina - Maria jumped into the pool EM + O = NO O livro está NO carro - The book is inside the car Maria está NO Brasil - Maria is in Brazil EM + AS = NAS, EM + OS = NOS Maria está NOS Estados Unidos - Maria is in USA Os garotos estão NAS Ilhas Maurício - The boys are in Mauritius EM alone: As garotas estão EM Portugal - The girls are in Portugal POR + definite article \"Por\" may translate to many words: around, because of, by (most cases), for etc. POR + A = PELA Maria trocou o livro PELA mesa - Maria changed the book by the table João nadou PELA piscina - John swimmed around the pool POR + O = PELO Maria fez isso PELO João - Maria did that for John POR + AS = PELAS, Por + OS = PELOS Os garotos viajaram PELOS Estados Unidos - The boys travelled around the USA POR alone: Maria viajou POR Portugal - Maria travelled around Portugal | |
| delia | Tuesday 01st of August 2006 09:06:58 PM |
| - Celso, muito obrigada PELAS explicações!!! | |
