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Portuguese (Português)
Spoken in: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Luxembourg, Andorra, India, Spain and 22 other countries
Total speakers: 199 Million - 207 Million1
Ranking:6
Genetic
classification:

Indo-European
 Italic
  Romance
   Italo-Western
    Western
     Gallo-Iberian
      Ibero-Romance
       West-Iberian
        Portuguese-Galician
         Portuguese

Official status
Official language of:Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor, Macau
Regulated by:Internatonal Portuguese Language Institute; CPLP
Language codes
ISO 639-1: pt
ISO 639-2: (T): por
SIL: POR

Portuguese is a Romance language spoken in Portugal and most of its former colonies, including Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau. With 199 million native speakers, Portuguese is the sixth most popular mother-tongue language in the world, and the second Romance language, outnumbered only by Spanish.

Portuguese is nicknamed A língua de Camões (after Luís de Camões, the author of The Lusiad); and A última flor do Lácio ("The last flower of Latium", i.e. the greatest of the Romance languages).

History

Overview

Portuguese developed in the Western Iberian Peninsula from the Latin language brought there by Roman soldiers starting in the 3rd century BC. The language began to differentiate itself from Latin after the fall of the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasions in the 5th century. It started to be used in written documents around the 9th century, and by the 15th century it had bercame a mature language with a rich literature.

The Portuguese language was spread worldwide in the 16th century as Portugal created the first (and longest-lived) modern-world colonial empire, spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau in China. As a result of that expansion, Portuguese is now the official language of several independent countries, and is widely spoken or studied as a second language in many others. There are also more than 20 Portuguese Creole languages. Large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities exist in many cities around the world, e.g. Paris in France, Boston and Miami in the USA.

Roman colonization

The Romans conquered the Western Iberian Peninsula — the Roman province of Lusitania, currently Portugal and the region of Galicia region of Spain — in 218 BC, and brought with them a popular version of Latin, the Vulgar Latin from which all Romance languages are belived to descend. Almost 90% of the Portuguese lexicon comes from Latin: although the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited since well before the Roman colonization, very few traces of the native languages persist in modern Portuguese.

Barbarian invasions

Between 409 A.D. and 711, as the Roman Empire was collapsing, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by peoples of germanic origin, known by the Romans as Barbarians. The Barbarians (mainly Suevi and Visigoths) largely absorbed the Roman culture and language of the peninsula; however, since the Roman schools were closed, the Latin language was left free to evolve on its own. As each barbarian tribe spoke Latin in a different way, the uniformity of the Peninsula was soon disrupted, leading to the formation of well-differentiated languages (Portuguese-Galician, Spanish and Catalan). The Suevi people, in particular, are believed to be responsible for the linguistic differentiation of the Portuguese and Galician dialects away from the Spanish ones. The Germanic tribes influenced Portuguese in words linked to war and violence, such as "Guerra" (to mean War).

Moorish invasion

From 711, with the Moorish invasion of the Peninsula, Arabic was adopted as the administrative language in the conquered regions. However, the population continued to speak Romance; so that when the Moors were expelled, the influence that they had exerted on the language was small. Its main effect was in the lexicon: modern Portuguese still has a large number of words of Arabic origin, especially relating to food and agriculture, which have no cognates in other Romance languages. The Arabic influence is also visible in placenames throughout the Southern provinces, such as Algarve and Fátima.

The rise of the Portuguese language

The ancient Roman province of Lusitania had split into two separate provinces, Lusitania in the south and Galecia in the north. The Portuguese language developed mainly in Northern Portugal and Galicia, but was largely influenced by similar Romance dialects spoken in southern Portugal. For a long time the Romance dialect of that region evolved only as a spoken language.

The earliest surviving records of a distinctively Portuguese language are administrative documents from the 9th century, still interspersed with many phrases in Latin.

The written vernacular came gradually into general use in the following centuries. Portugal became an independent country in 1143, with King Alfonso I. The ensuing relative political and geographical separation between Portugal and Castille (later Spain) allowed the two countries to evolve their vernacular Latin in separate directions. In 1290, king Diniz created the first University of Portugal (the Escola de Direitos Gerais) and decreed that Portuguese, then called the "Vulgar language" or Vulgar Latin renamed "Portuguese language" should be used in preference to Classical Latin.

Until 1350, the language Portuguese-Galician remained the native language of Galicia and Portugal only; but by the 15th century Portuguese had become a mature language with a rich literary tradition, and was adopted also by many Leonese, Castillian, Aragonese and Catalan poets. During that time, Galicia came under the influence of Castillan (basically modern Spanish), and the southern variant became the language of Portugal.

The Portuguese discoveries

Between the 14th and the 16th centuries, with the Portuguese discoveries, the Portuguese language spread to many regions of Asia, Africa and America. By the 16th century it had become a lingua franca in Asia and Africa, used not only for colonial administration and trade but also for communication between local officials and Europeans of all nationalities. In Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) several kings became fluent speakers of Portuguese, and nobles often took Portuguese names. The spread of the language was helped by mixed marriages between Portuguese and local people (also very common in other areas of the world), and its association with the Catholic missionary efforts which led to the language being called Cristão ("Christian") in many places. The language continued popular even in despite severe measures taken by the Dutch to abolish it in Ceylon and Indonesia

Some Portuguese-speaking Christian communities in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia preserved their language even after they were isolated from Portugal, and have evolved through the centuries into several Portuguese Creoles. Also, many words of Portuguese origin entered the lexicons of many other languages such as "arigatô" to mean Thank you in Japanese language (from "Obrigado" in Portuguese), "sepatu" to mean Shoe in Indonesian or "keju" to mean cheese in Malay.

The Renaissance

With the Renaissance, increases in the number of words of Classical Latin origin and erudite words of Greek origin increased the complexity of Portuguese. The end of "Old Portuguese" was marked by the publication of the Cancioneiro Geral de Garcia de Resende, in 1516. But Old Portuguese is still spoken, as a dialect, especially in São Tomé and Principe, but also Brazil and rural Portugal.

Indo-European - Italic - Romance - Italo-Western - Western - Gallo-Iberian - Ibero-Romance - West-Iberian - Portuguese-Galician

Portuguese is orthographically similar in many ways to Spanish, it is different in speech, most of the similarities are in the writing system, and same close-origin of the lexicon and grammar. A speaker of one may require some practice to effectively understand a speaker of the other. Compare, for example:

Ela fecha sempre a janela antes de jantar. (Portuguese)
Ella cierra siempre la ventana antes de cenar. (Spanish)

Almost all words in Spanish or Portuguese have close relatives in both languages if you are cultivated enough to use less common words:

Ela encerra sempre a janela antes de cear. (less common Portuguese)

(Which translates as "She always closes the window before having dinner.")

Portuguese is somewhat similar to Catalan in sounds. Speakers of other Romance languages may find a peculiarity in the conjugating of certain apparently infinitive verbs. In particular, when constructing a future tense or conditional tense expression involving an indirect object pronoun, the pronoun is placed between the verb stem and the verb ending. For example, Dupondt said trazer-vos-emos o vosso ceptro. Translating as literally as possible, this is "bring (stem)-to you (formal)-we (future) the your sceptre". In English we would say, "We will bring you your sceptre." The form Nós vos traremos o vosso ceptro. is also correct, although less common in Portugal, but more common in Brazil.

In some places, Spanish and Portuguese are spoken almost interchangeably. Portuguese speakers are generally able to read Spanish, and Spanish speakers are generally able to read Portuguese, even if they can't understand the spoken language. Tourists in Portugal and Brazil should note that trying to communicate with the locals in Spanish may seem offensive, except for cultured Brazilians, but not cultured Portuguese. French or English languages should be preferred in Portugal.

Geographic distribution

Portuguese is the first language in Angola, Brazil, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Portuguese is also one of the primary languages of East Timor (with Tetum) and Macao (with Chinese). It is an official language, but not the first, in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. It is largely spoken, but not official, in Andorra and Luxembourg.

Portuguese in the Americas

Nevertheless, Portuguese is growing in importance in South America. Because of Brazil, it is being taught (and is popular, especially in Argentina) in the rest of the South American countries that constitute Mercosul (Mercosur). There are in Brazil, 182.1 million people who use Portuguese as their main language, but there are also first-language speakers in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. In the rest of the Americas, there are also important communities in: Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Canada, Guyana, Jamaica, United States (0.6 million active speakers in a community of 1.5 million, especially New Jersey) and Venezuela.

Portuguese in Europe

In Europe, Portuguese is spoken mainly in Portugal by its 10.3 million inhabitants, as first language. The language is also spoken throughout Europe by Portuguese influence, by more than 10% of the population of Luxembourg and Andorra. There are also strong Portuguese speaking communities in Belgium, France, Germany, Jersey and Switzerland. It is also spoken in Spain, especially in Galicia (known officially as Galician), Olivença and in Vale do Xalima (known as A fala).

Galician (also known as Galego or Gallego) can be seen as a somewhat Castillianized form of Portuguese. The current Galician Autonomous Government backs a standard variety of Galician which distances it from Portuguese and makes its written form more similar to Castillian Spanish. Nevertheless, there is another standard, used in some political circles and universities, that treats Galician as a Portuguese dialect with minor differences. Linguists have always recognized the unity of these linguistic varieties (for instance, Corominas, Lindley Cintra, Coseriu, etc), as they were once just the same language and both are relatively conservative varieties. However, in practice, they are sometimes treated as different languages by both populations mainly due to sociolinguistic factors, with works in Galician being translated into Portuguese and vice versa. During the Middle Ages, Galician and Portuguese were undoubtedly the same language, nowadays known as Portuguese-Galician, a language used for poetic works even in Castille. The only Galician deputy in the European Union Parliament speaks in Portuguese.

Portuguese in Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, Portuguese is a growing language where it is projected that to be the one of the most spoken languages within 50 years with the growing importance of Angola and Mozambique. These two countries along with Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe are known as Paises Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (Official Portuguese Language African Countries) or PALOP, forming a community of more than 8.4 million first language speakers. There are strong Portuguese creoles in other parts of Africa. The south of Senegal, known as Casamance has an active community that is linked culturally and linguistically to Guinea-Bissau and learning Portuguese is popular. A Portuguese creole linked to São Tomé and Principe is the language of the island of Annobón, Equatorial Guinea. Portuguese is a minority language in Congo, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa.

In Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, the most widely-spoken languages are Portuguese creoles known as Crioulos. Most Capeverdians can also speak Portuguese, because their creoles are derived from Portuguese. There is some decrioulization due to School and Portugal's national TV channels are a Capeverdian fever, but it is believe that the Creoles will be maintained. A Portuguese speaker from elsewhere can understand some of a conversation in Crioulo, although, because some words where simplified and different and simplefied grammar, they normally get confused. The case is a bit different in Guinea-Bissau, Portuguese and its creoles are spoken by more than 60% of the inhabitants, while Portuguese itself is only spoken by 14%.

In São Tomé and Príncipe, the Portuguese used by the population is an archaic Portuguese, known as São Tomean Portuguese. Politicians and the upper use the modern European Portuguese variety, much like the other PALOP countries. Three different Portuguese creoles are also spoken in the islands.

In Angola, Portuguese is quickly becoming a national language rather than only an official language or as a cohesion vehicle. By the census of 1980, in the capital, Luanda, Portuguese was the first language of 75% of a population of 2.5 million. In the whole country, for 60% of the 12.5 million inhabitants Portuguese was also the main spoken language. Most younger Angolans can only speak Portuguese. Angola receives several Portuguese and Brazilian televison stations, a Portuguese news TV station (SIC Notícias) became widily Popular in Angola, in a record time. There are also many other native languages in Angola. Some words from those languages have been borrowed into Portuguese, when the retornados returned to Portugal after Angola's independence. Words like iá (yes) and bué (many), common in the young and urban Portuguese population have their origin in Angolan languages.

Mozambique is among the countries where the Portuguese has the status of official language, being spoken essentially as a second language. However, it is the main language in the cities. According to the Census of 1997, Portuguese speakers are more than 40% of the population, this number rises to more than 72% in the urban areas. But only 9% consider Portuguese as their main language (26% in the cities). All the Mozambican writers write in Portuguese, but it became attached to the coloor and texture of the Mozambican culture.

Portuguese in Asia

Portuguese is also spoken in Asia, especially in East Timor, Goa and Daman (India) and Macau (China). In Goa, it is spoken by an increasingly small minority, it is seen as the language of the grandparents, because it is not taught at school or official, while in Malacca in Malaysia, there is a Portuguese creole known as Cristão or Papiá Kristang still spoken by some of the Eurasian population. There are also active Portuguese creoles, especially, in India (Daman and Korlai) and Sri Lanka. In Japan, Portuguese is spoken by Brazilians of Japanese descent, known as dekasegui, who number approximately 250 000 people.

In East Timor, the national language is Tetum, an Austronesian language, but it has been heavily influenced by Portuguese. The reintroduction of Portuguese as an official language has caused suspicion and resentment among some younger East Timorese who have been educated under the Indonesian system, and do not speak it. Portuguese in East Timor is spoken by less than 20% of its population, mostly the elder generation, though this percentage is increasing as Portuguese is being taught to the younger generation and to interrested adults. East Timor asked for help to the other CPLP nations to establish once more Portuguese as a national language. East Timor uses Portuguese to link itself to a larger international community and to differentiate itself from Indonesia. Xanana Gusmão, president of East Timor, believes that Portuguese will be widely spoken within 10 years.

Official status

The CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries) is an international organization grouping together the eight independent countries which have Portuguese as official language. Portuguese is an official language of the European Union, Mercosul and African Union (one of the working languages) among other organizations. Except for the Asian territories (East Timor and Macau), Portuguese is the sole official language in each country.

Portuguese is the official language of:
Africa

Asia

Europe

  • Portugal main language: ~100% spoken by: ~100%

South America

  • Brazil main language: 99% spoken by: ~100%

While not Official, Portuguese is largely spoken in:

Dialects and varieties

main article: Portuguese dialects

The Portuguese has two official varieties originated from the dialects of Coimbra and Lisbon in the case of the variety of Portugal and in the dialects of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in the variety of Brazil. There are some differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese varieties in vocabulary, pronunciation, and syntax, especially in popular varieties. However, both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are undoubtedly dialects of the same language and speakers from both varieties can easily understand each other.

Some apparent differences between the two varieties are not really differences. In Brazil, the term for socks is meias. And, in Portugal, peúgas. However, some dialectal zones in Portugal uses meias and don't use the word peúgas. This applies in almost all such apparent differences, except in the new terms.

A Spelling Reform (Port. Reforma Ortográfica) was tried in 1990 to put an end to the two official written varieties of the language, was ratified by Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal. The African countries of Portuguese language still not decided to ratify, because there is little presence of the African modality of the language in the original conception of the Agreement. The Agreement establishes that its entrance into practice will only occur when all the countries of the CPLP ratify it, and this process perhaps will not occur soon, even with Portuguese and Brazilian pressure in CPLP. An agreement was made for the new words that will enter in the language.

All aspects and sounds of all Portuguese (nation) dialects can be found in some Brasilian (nation) dialect, though Brazilian dialects seem more unified than the Portuguese ones.

Officially and until the agreement is established, Portuguese has two written varieties (Port. Variedades) but Portuguese speakers prefer to name it as Padrões (Eng. Patterns):

  • European and African Portuguese
  • Brazilian Portuguese

Major Portuguese dialects:

  • Alentejano (Region of Alentejo, Portugal)
  • Algarvio (Region of Algarve, Portugal)
  • Alto-Minhoto (North of Braga, Portugal)
  • Angolano (Angola)
  • Açoriano (Azores, Portugal)
  • Caboverdiano (Cape Verde)
  • Caipira (interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil)
  • Carioca (City and State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
  • Cearense (State of Ceará, Brazil)
  • Baiano (Region of Bahia, Brazil)
  • Beirão (central Portugal)
  • Estremenho (Regions of Coimbra and Lisbon, Portugal)
  • Galician or Galego (Galiza, Spain)
  • Gaúcho (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
  • Guineense (Guinea-Bissau)
  • Madeirense (Madeira, Portugal)
  • Mineiro (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil)
  • Moçambicano (Mozambique)
  • Nordestino (norestern states of Brazil)
  • Nortenho (Regions of Braga and Oporto, Portugal)
  • Nortista (Amazon states, north of Brazil)
  • Paulistano (city of São Paulo, Brazil)
  • Santomense (São Tomé and Principe)
  • Sertão (States of Goiás and Mato Grosso, Brazil)
  • Sulista (south of Brazil)
  • Timorense (East Timor)
  • Transmontano (Region of Trás-os-Montes, Portugal)

Examples of words in Portuguese dialects from three different continents Angola (Africa), Portugal (Europe) and Brazil (South America).

Pinnapple

  • Angola: abacaxi²
  • Portugal: ananás¹, sometimes abacaxi²
  • Brazil: abacaxi², sometimes ananás¹

Savannah

  • Angola: anhara³ or chana&sup3, sometimes savana¹
  • Portugal and Brazil: savana¹

Pretty girl

  • Angola: barona&sup1, sometimes moça bonita¹
  • Portugal: rapariga bonita¹ or moça bonita¹
  • Brazil: moça bonita¹, sometimes rapariga bonita¹

Go away

  • Angola: bazar&sup3, sometimes ir embora ¹
  • Portugal: ir embora¹ (or bazar³ among teenagers)
  • Brazil: ir embora ¹

To work

  • Angola: bumbar&sup3, sometimes trabalhar¹;
  • Portugal and Brazil: trabalhar¹

Queer, fag

  • Angola: bicha²
  • Portugal: maricas¹ or bicha²
  • Brazil: bicha ²

Party

  • Angola: farra³
  • Portugal and Brazil: festa¹ (or farra³ - teenage parties)

Bus

  • Portugal: autocarro
  • Brazil: ônibus
  • Angola (and Mozambique): machimbombo

(1) Portuguese origin (2) Brazilian origin (3) Angolan origin

Derived languages

main article: Portuguese Creole

There are several living Portuguese creoles spoken around the world:

Some languages (or dialects) came to exist after an interaction with Spanish:

  • A Fala, Spain (can be considered as a dialect)
  • Gallego, Spain (The official version of Galego)
  • Portunhol, Uruguai

Sounds

Vowels

The sound system of Portuguese is somewhat more complicated compared to Spanish. There are a greater number of vowels, and there is not a simple rule relating written vowels to their sounds, as there is in Spanish. Similarly to French, Portuguese has a set of nasal vowels and a set of nasal diphthongs.

Oral monophthongs
i si si 'saw' (1 sg)
e ve vê 'see' (3 sg)
ɛ sɛ sé 'cathedral'
ɔ sɔ só 'alone'
o so sou 'I am'
u ˈmudu mudo 'mute' (m)
ɐ pɐˈɡaɾ pagar 'to pay'
ɯ pɯˈgar pegar 'to grip'
Nasal monophthongs
ı̃ vı̃ vim 'came' (1 sg)
ẽ ˈẽtɾu entro 'enter'
ɐ̃ ˈɐ̃tɾu antro 'den'
õ sõ som 'sound'
ũ ˈmũdu mundo 'world'
Oral diphthongs
ɛi ɐˈnɛiʃ anéis 'rings' (n)
ai sai sai 'go out' (3 sg)
ɐi sɐi sei 'know' (1 sg)
ɔi mɔi mói 'grind' (3 sg)
oi ˈmoitɐ moita 'thicket'
ui ɐˈnuiʃ anuis 'agree' (2 sg)
iu viu viu 'saw' (3 sg)
eu meu meu 'mine' (poss m)
ɛu vɛu véu 'veil'
au mau mau 'bad' (m sg)
Nasal diphthongs
ɐ̃i sɐ̃i cem 'hundred'
õi ɐˈnõiʃ anões 'dwarves' (m)
ũi ˈmũitɐ muita 'much, many' (f)
ɐ̃u mɐ̃u mão 'hand' (n)


Unstressed o is normally /u/, and unstressed a is normally an open central vowel.

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Palatal Velar
Plosive p b t d k g
Nasal m n ɲ
Lateral approximant l ʎ
Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar Uvular
Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ ʁ
Tap ɾ
p ˈpatu pato 'duck' (m)
b ˈbatu bato 'I strike'
m ˈmatu mato 'I kill'
f ˈfatu fato 'costume'
v ˈviɲɐ vinha 'vine'
t ˈtatu tacto 'tact'
d ˈdatu dato 'I date'
n ˈnatu nato 'innate' (m)
s ˈkasu caço 'I hunt'
z ˈkazu caso 'I marry'
k ˈkatu cacto 'cactus'
ɡ ˈɡatu gato 'cat'
ɲ ˈpiɲɐ pinha 'pine cone'
ʃ ˈʃatu chato 'flat'
ʒ ˈʒatu jacto 'jet'
ɾ ˈpiɾɐ pira 'pyre'
ʁ ˈʁatu rato 'mouse' (m)
l ˈliɲɐ linha 'line'
ʎ ˈpiʎɐ pilha 'battery'

There are palatal consonants lh and nh (the equivalent of Spanish ll, ñ). The consonants ch, j are postalveolar fricatives, SAMPA /S/, /Z/, or the same sound as in French.

The letter s when final or followed by another voiceless consonant is /S/, or before a voiced consonant /Z/. So the escudo (the previous currency - now Portugal uses the Euro) is /@SkuDu/, plural escudos /@SkuDuS/. This peculiarity is only valid however in Portugal (most dialects) and in the metropolitan area of the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In other regions of Brazil and other former Portuguese colonies, the s is merely voiced (to /z/) when before a voiced consonant. The Beirão dialect of central Portugal, pronounces the final 's' as 'j'.

The letter l when final in some regions of Brasil is pronounced as /u/ and in the Caipira dialect as /r/. In Rio de Janeiro and other areas of southestern Brazil, the syllables te and ti are pronounced as 'tchi' and de and di as 'dji'. In most of Brazil with the exception of the deep south r is pronounced as aveolar fricative. In northern Portugal, in the Alto-Minhoto and Transmontano dialects, Ch is spoken as 'tch'. Also, in Northern Portugal's dialects, 'v' is pronounced as /b/.

The following Table of Sounds is valid both in European, African and Brazilian Portuguese.

letter Portuguese Meaning Sound letter Portuguese Meaning Sound
a, ã anjo angel area n- número number nothing
b bola ball begin nh ninho nest sing
ca, co, cu casa house cake o santo, bonito saint, pretty want, boo
ça, ce, ci, ço, çu cedo, maçã early, apple city ó morte, moda, nó death, fashion, knot law
ch cheque check she ô ovo, olho, avô egg, eye, grandparent know
d dedo finger day p parte part park
e leite, vale milk, valey cheese qu quanto, cinquenta how much, fifty quick
é resto, festa, café rest, party, coofe bed que qui aquele, aqui that one, here key
ê medo, letra, você fear, letter, you them r caro, barco expensive, boat car
f ferro iron fear rr rosa, carro rose, car (French rr)
ga, go gato cat gas s-, ss sapo, assado frog, roasted samba
ge, gi gelo ice angel sc, sç piscina, desça pool, go down sea or she
gu água water Nicaragua
galinhas, arcos chikens, arcs she or sea
gu português Portuguese give (vowel)s(vowel) raso evenness zero
h harpa harp silent letter t tosta toast tomato
i idiota idiot meat u uvas grapes boo
j jogo game Japan v vento wind verb
l logo soon lake x caixa, México, Xadrez box, Mexico, chess she
lh alho garlic (spanish ll) x próximo next sea
m- mapa map must ex(consonant) excelente, texto excelent, text sea or she
campo, canto, Berlim field, corner, Berlin sing z, exa, exe, exi, exo, exu exame, natureza exam, nature zero

Grammar

The verb

Verbs are divided into three declensions, which can be identified by looking at the infinitive ending, one of "-ar", "-er", "-ir" (and "-or", irregular verbs). Most verbs ends with "-ar". All verbs with the same ending follow the same patern.

cantar (to sing)
comer (to speak)
rir (to laugh)
compor (to compose)

In Portuguese, verbs are divided into moods: <br\>Imperative: used to express a wish, command or advice

canta (sing! to one person)
cantem (sing! to more than one person)

<br\>Indicative: used to express a fact <br\>Simple

simple present -- falo = "I speak"; falas = "you speak"; fala = "he speaks"
simple past/present perfect -- falei = "I spoke"; falaste = "you spoke"; falou = "he spoke"
past imperfect -- falava = "I spoke"
past perfect -- falara = "I had spoken"
simple future -- vou falar = "I will speak"
simple future -- falarei = "I will speak"
conditional -- falaria = "I would speak"

Continuous

present continuous -- estou falando
past continuous -- estava falando

ex: Eu estou falando português (I am speaking Portuguese)
Conpound

present perfect continuous/present perfect -- tenho falado
future perfect -- terei falado
past perfect -- tinha falado
future perfect -- terei falado
conditional perfect -- teria falado

ex: Eu tenho falado inglês (I been speaking/have spoken English)
Subjective: used to express a wish or a possibility

present subjunctive -- fale
imperfect subjunctive -- falasse
future subjunctive -- falar
present continuous subjunctive -- esteja falando
past continuous subjunctive -- estivesse falando
future continuous subjunctive -- estiver falando
present perfect subjunctive -- tenha falado
past perfect subjunctive) tivesse falado
future perfect subjunctive) tiver falado

ex: (1)Se eu estivesse falando português (If I were speaking Portuguese) (2)Se eu falasse português (If I spoke Portuguese)

The adjective

The feminine gender in adjectives is formed in a different way to that in nouns. Most adjectives ending in a consonant remain unchanged: homem superior, mulher superior. This is also true for adjectives ending in "e": homem forte, mulher forte. Except for this, the noun and the adjective must always be in agreement.

ex: (1)A mulher é linda (The woman is really beautiful) (2)O homem é lindo (The man is really handsome)

Vocabulary

Since Portuguese is a Romance language, most of the language comes from Latin. However, other languages that have come into contact with Portuguese have left their mark.

Pre-Roman origin words

  • Abóbora (pumpkin) - native
  • Barro (adobe) - native
  • Bezerro (year-old calf) - native
  • Bico (peak) from Celtic
  • Cabana (hut) from Celtic
  • Cama (bed) - native
  • Camisa (shirt) from Celtic
  • Carvalho(oak) from Celtic
  • Cerveja (beer) from Celtic
  • Farol (lighthouse) from Greek
  • Gato (cat) from Celtic
  • Louça (claw) - native
  • Malha (mesh) from Phoenician
  • Mapa (map) from Phoenician
  • Manteiga (butter) - native
  • Saco (bag) from Phoenician
  • Sapo (frog) - native
  • Touca (headress) from Celtic

Barbarian origin words

  • Barão (baron) from Ger. baro
  • Ganhar (to win) from Ger. waidanjan
  • Guerra (war) from Got. *wirro
  • Roubar (to steal) from Ger. raubon
  • Saga (Saga) from Got. saega

Arabic origin words

  • Alcova (Alcove) from alkubba
  • Aldeia (village) from aldaya
  • Alecrim (rosemary) from aliklil
  • Alicate (pliers) from allikkát
  • Alface (lettuce) from alkhass
  • Alfândega (customs) from alfunduk
  • Algarismo (algarism, number) from alkarizmi
  • Alquimia (Alchemy) from al + kimia
  • Almirante (admiral) from amir + ar-rahl
  • Almofada (cushion) from almukhadda
  • Alvará (license) from albar'at
  • Âmbar (amber) from anbar
  • Argola (ring) from algoll
  • Armazém (warehouse) from almahazan
  • Arroz (rice) from arruz (loan from Greek óryza)
  • Azeite (olive oil) from azzait
  • Garrafa (bottle) from garrafâ
  • Girafa (giraffe) from 'zurafa
  • Jasmim (jasmin) from Persian jasamin
  • Jarra (jar) from jarra
  • Javali (wild boar) from jabali
  • Marfim (ivory) from nab-al-fíl
  • Nora (daughter-in-law) from na'ûra
  • Refém (hostage) from rahen
  • Tarifa (tariff) from ta'rif
  • Xadrez (Chess) from xatranj (loan from Sanscrit xaturanga)
  • Xerife (sheriff) from xarif

Asian origin words

  • Chá (Tea), from Chinese
  • Jangada (raft), from Malay

Amerindian origin words

  • Abacaxi (pineapple) from Tupi ibá + cati
  • Caju (cashew)
  • Jaguar (jaguar) from Tupi-Guarani jaguara
  • Mandioca (cassava)
  • Pipoca (popcorn)
  • Tatu (armadillo) from Guarani tatu
  • Tucano (toucan) from Guarani tucan

Sub-saharan Africa origin words

  • Banana (banana)

Writing system

Portuguese is written using the Latin alphabet.

Examples

There is a Portuguese Wikipedia

English Portuguese
hello olá (pronounced as aw-LAH) Media:Ola.ogg
oi (popular)
good-Bye adeus (may seem offensive, sign of good-bye forever)
tchau (popular)
I will miss you Vou sentir tua falta (pronounced as Vow seng-TAER tooha falta)
Vou sentir sua falta (sign of respect in Portugal; to friends in Brazil)
Vou sentir saudades tuas (portuguese sentimental sense of miss)
Vou sentir saudades suas (portuguese sentimental sense of miss- sign of respect in Portugal; to friend in Brazil)
Vou sentir saudades do senhor (sign of respect in Brazil; seen as excessive respect in Portugal)
thank you obrigado (if you are a man) (pronounced as awbrigrahdoo)
obrigada (if you are a woman) (pronounced as awbrigrahda)
sorry desculpe (pronounced as deshkulpe)
that one esse (masculine)
essa (feminine)
this one este (masculine)
esta (feminine)
one um (masculine)
uma (feminine)
two dois (masculine)
duas (feminine)
three três (pronounced as Treh-sh or Treh-j or Treh-z)
four quatro
five cinco
how much? quanto custa?
yes sim
no não (pronounced as NAang)
yes sim
I'm English Sou Inglês
I'm American Sou Americano
Do you speak English? Fala inglês? (in here one can also apply courtesy or friendship, explained above)
I don't understand Não percebo
Não entendo
what? Como?
what's your name? Como te chamas? (pronounced as COH-moo tee SHAH-mash )
My name is Eu me chamo
Eu chamo-me
O meu nome é
Meu nome é
what's this? O que é isto? (pronounced as OO quee heh AESH-too?)
this is good Isto é bom
where's the bathroom? Onde fica o banheiro (Brazil) (pronounced as ONG-de FIH-ka oo BAH-ng-eh-roo )
Onde fica o quarto de banho (Portugal) (pronounced as ONG-dee FIH-ka oo kwartoo dee BAH-ng-oo )
man homem
wine Vinho (masculine) (pronounced as VAEng-oo)
car carro (masculine)
room quarto (masculine)
a room um quarto (masculine and singular)
two rooms dois quartos (masculine and plural)
woman mulher
shop loja (feminine)
sand areia (feminine)
food comida (feminine)
a potato uma batata (feminine and singular)
two potatos duas batatas (feminine and plural)

See also: List of tongue-twisters

Literature

To English speakers, the most famous writer in the Portuguese language is the poet Luís Vaz de Camoes or Luís Vaz Camoens (1524-June 10, 1580), author of the epic poem, the Lusiad. (In the Victorian era, he was both sufficiently admired and sufficiently obscure for Elizabeth Barrett Browning to disguise her work by entitling it Sonnets from the Portuguese, a reference to Camões).

The Portuguese national holiday, "Portugal's Day" or "Dia de Portugal, das Comunidades Portuguesas e de Camões" (Portugal's, Portuguese Communities' and Camoens' Day), is celebrated on June 10th, the anniversary of Camões death. It is a day of national pride similar to the "independence days" celebrated in other countries.

Eça de Queirós (1845 - 1900) is the most famous Portuguese novelist. His works have been translated into many languages; as of 2003, about twenty of them are in print in English translation. Born in Povoa de Varzim, near Oporto. He traveled throughout the world as a consul. He happily accepted his assignment to the consulate of Paris in 1888 and remained there until his death. The books he wrote in Paris are critical of Portuguese society. Some of his most famous works are The Maias, The Crime of Father Amaro (O crime do Padre Amaro) and Cousin Basílio (Primo Basílio).

In 2002, the Mexican director Carlos Carrera made a motion picture, "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" ("The Crime of Father Amaro"), adapted from Queirós' novel. One of the most successful Mexican films in history, it was also controversial because of what was thought by some to be an unfair depiction of the Catholic priesthood.

Fernando Pessoa (1888 - 1935) was a famous Portuguese poet, one of the greatest in the Portuguese history. He wrote as if he was different poets. One of his most famous works, was a different and vivid adaptation of The Lusiad, called The Message (A Mensagem).

The Message is seen as impressive by some critics for speaking of the Sebastianism and Portuguese prophecies, that were created and prophecized during the time of Camoens. The Portuguese irrationally wait the return of the dead king on a foggy day - the return of National Me (Eu Nacional) that will take Portugal, once more, to govern the Fifth Empire.

Jorge Amado (1912 - 2001) was a famous Brazilian novelist, popular in Brazil and in Portugal. He was born in Itabuna, Bahia in Brazil. He wrote Gabriela, Cravo e Canela and Tieta do Agreste that, when transformed into Brazilian soap operas and movies, became huge successes in both countries and renewed interest in the public to read his books -- this is considered an achievement in Brazil, where functional literacy is low, the standards of learning have been degrading and reading is widely considered boring to the point of being almost a social handicap.

But the most respected writer in the XX century in Brazil is probably João Guimarães Rosa. Guimarães Rosa wrote about the hinterlands of Brazil, specially Minas Gerais, and did so in a very elegant, poetical language drawing from the oral forms used in those region in the first half of the XX century. His masterwork is Grande Sertão: Veredas, the poignant story of a member of a criminal band of the hinterlands (jagunços) that falls in love with a fellow criminal that eventually dies, and it is only then that it is discovered he was actually a woman.

Notes

  • [1] First and Second with first language speakers, respectively. Only counting figures from Andorra, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, China (Macao), East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, India (Goa, Daman), Luxembourg, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe (Not including Galicia and others). Considering second language speakers those people who are bilingual and use Portuguese as a second language.
  • [2] Galicia is only included as a Portuguese language territory due that is confirmed that both languages are co-dialects. The government of Galicia regards Galician as a separate language.
  • [3] A Fala is not recognized by the Spanish authorities to be a Portuguese dialect, althought there has been attempts to consider it Galician, but the locals do not want to use the Galician orthography. A Fala differs very few from the neighbouring Portuguese dialect in the other side of the border, but it will probably be recognized (if it will be) as a separate language.

[[pl:J%EAzyk portugalski]] tokipona:toki Potuke

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