Table of Contents

Introduction     ix
Introducing the Portuguese Language     1
Why Learn Portuguese?     2
Portuguese: A Romance Language     2
Similarities to Spanish     3
European Portuguese Versus Brazilian Portuguese     5
Tips on Learning Portuguese     7
Recognizing What You Already Know     10
The Sounds of Portuguese     17
The Portuguese Alphabet     18
Accent Marks     20
Listening Practice 1     20
A Closer Look at the Portuguese Consonants     21
Listening Practice 2     24
Stress Pattern in Portuguese     25
Oral and Nasal Vowels     25
Listening Practice 3     27
Typing in Portuguese     29
Beginning Conversation     31
Greetings     32
Talking on the Phone     32
Quick Introductions     34
Exercise: What to Say?     35
Saying Goodbye     36
Other Vocabulary You May Need     37
Nouns, Articles, and Contractions     41
Nouns: Persons, Places, and Things     42
Practicing with Gender     45
From Nouns to Pronouns     46
Definite and Indefinite Articles     49
Demonstratives     50
Common Contractions     52
Who Are You? Introducing Ser     57
Expressing Identity: Ser     58
Place of Origin     59
Characteristics     61
Occupations     63
Personal Relationships     65
Numbers and Ser     66
How Are You? Introducing Estar     67
States of Being: Estar     68
Physical States     69
Mental States     70
Location     72
Estar in the Present Progressive Tense     73
Ser or Estar?     74
Agreement Rules     77
Plurals in Nouns and Adjectives     78
Describing People and Things in Portuguese     81
From Nouns to Adjectives     82
The Order of Modifiers     84
Making Comparisons     86
Superlatives: The Best of the Best     89
Ownership and Possession     91
The Vocabulary of Numbers     95
Cardinal Numbers     96
Ordinal Numbers     100
Days of the Week     102
Talking about Time      103
The Months and Seasons     105
Practice with Numbers     106
First Conjugation Verbs     109
Regular -AR Verbs     110
Verbs with Prepositions     112
Vocabulary: Going Places     114
Vocabulary: Routine Activities     116
Second Conjugation and Beyond     119
Regular -ER and -IR Verbs     120
Special -IR Verbs     123
Exercise: Regular and Special Verbs     125
To Go and To Come: Ir and Vir     125
To Have: Ter     128
Vocabulary: Family Relations     131
Important Verbs to Know     135
To Be or To Exist: Haver     136
To Make or To Do: Fazer     137
Expressions with Fazer     138
To Know: Saber and Conhecer     140
More Special Verbs     142
Verb Tenses: an Overview     145
Present Tense     146
Preterite Tense     147
Imperfect Tense     149
The Preterite Versus the Imperfect     150
Future Tenses     152
Conditional Tense     154
Practice with the Future and Conditional Tenses     155
More Verbs      157
Using Two Verbs Together     158
Past Participles     161
Passive Voice     164
Reflexive and Reciprocal Verbs     165
Reflexive Verbs with Prepositions     166
Practice with Reflexive and Reciprocal Verbs     167
Negative Words and Constructions     169
How to Say No     170
Two Negatives Make a Negative     171
Common Negative Expressions     172
Practice with Negatives     173
Positive Versus Negative     174
Questions and Exclamations     177
How to Ask Questions     178
Interrogative Words     179
Question Tags     182
Exclamations     182
The Future and Other Tenses     185
The Present Versus the Future or the Preterite     186
The Personal Infinitive     187
Impersonal Assertions     190
Discussing the Weather     191
The Vocabulary of Clothes     193
Imperative and Subjunctive Constructions     197
Imperative Constructions     198
Introducing the Subjunctive     200
Past Subjunctive     202
Future Subjunctive      203
Indicative or Subjunctive?     204
Practice with the Subjunctive Forms     204
Expression with the Verb Dar     205
Carnaval, Samba, Feijoada, and Futebol     207
Brazilian Carnaval     208
The Music of Brazil     210
Futebol (Soccer) in Brazil: Five-Time World Champions     213
Culinary Expressions     214
What's on Brazilian TV?     214
Brazilian Cinema     215
Cultural Review: What's the Word?     216
Means of Communication     217
In Person     218
Communication by Mail     222
Making Phone Calls     224
Vocabulary: Ficar, Tornar-se, Fazer-se (to Become)     228
More Vocabulary: Expressions with Estar com and Ter     229
Communication Practice     230
Travelling to Samba-Land     233
Getting Your Papers in Order     234
Hotel Reservations     235
Getting Real     237
Where to Go?     239
Brasilia: The Modern Capital City     241
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo: Big Metropoles     242
The Northeast of Brazil: Culture and Tradition     244
Florianopolis and Other Southern Belles     246
Survival Phrases: Don't Leave Home Without Them     247
The "Travel to Brazil" Quiz     248
English-to-Portuguese Glossary     249
Portuguese-to-English Glossary     271
Answer Key     295
Index     306