Portuguese Basics: Lesson 9

Alright, so, once again:

?The important word|A palavra importante

Good. If you wanted to say the very interesting word, you would simply say the word very interesting. Do say that:

?The very interesting word|A palavra muito interessante

There is a noticeable but smalll exception in Portuguese: with words bom and boa. They work just like they do in English so you say the good lady instead of the lady good or the good time instead of the time good. Apply it:

?The good lady|A boa senhora

?The good time|O bom tempo

Other than that, it works like a charm.

Now, talking vocabulary, let’s learn one rule which will let you transform English words into Portuguese ones:

English words that end in ble (possible, comprehensible, negotiable, habitable...) end in vel in Portuguese.

So, how would you say:

?Possible|Possivel

Say:

?It isn’t possible.|Não é possivel

Say:

?It is possible to have much money but I don’t want it.|É possivel ter muito dinheiro mas eu não o quero.

In "comfortable", you don’t only change the "ble" to "vel" but also change the "m" to "n". This doesn’t make such a big difference in speech and you would be perfectly understood even if you didn’t do it. Anyway, say:

?Comfortable|Confortavel

?It is very comfortable.|É muito confortavel.

Have in mind, that "vel" works for both genders as well. If "a coach" is "sofa", how would you say:

?A comfortable sofa|Uma sofa confortavel

Finally, let’s learn one more thing:

The Portuguese word for this (not when it is followed by something for example this thing but when it stands alone, i.e. just this) is isso.

How would you say:

?This is confortamble.|Isso é confortavel.

?This is possible.|Isso é possivel.

?This isn’t good.|Isso não é bom.

So, this’s good indeed. Let’s end it here.

Next lesson >