Summary p266

266 CONYERSATIONAL PORTUGUESE

27. NEGATION

1.    Ndo “not” comes before the verb:

Ndo falo italiano.    I don’t speak Italian.

2.    There are two forms for “nothing,” “never,” “nobody,” etc., one with and one without ndo:

Ndo vejo nada.    I don’t see anything.

Ndo vou nunca.    I never go.

Ndo vem ninguem.    Nobody is coming.

No one comes.

Notę: this is the form used morę often.

Or:

Nada vejo.    I don’t see anything.

Nunca vou.    I never go.

Ninguem vem.    Nobody is coming.

No one comes.

Also see CM section 47, lessons 22 and 23.

28. WORD ORDER

1. The usual order tends to be subject—verb adverb—obj ect:

Jodo comprou la os John bought the Portu-livros de portugues.    guese books there.

to put the longer emphasized part

2.

The tendency in Portuguese is member of the sentence (or the at limes) last:

Jodo viu os seus amigos    John saw his friends in

no restauranie    the Spanish restaurant

espanhol que i na    which is on the comer.

esąuina.

3. To ask a ąuestion, the same word order as for a statement can be used; this is the morę common form in conversation:

Jodo comprou Id os Uvros de portugues?

Did John buy his Portuguese books there?

A change of intonation indicates the difference between a statement and a ąuestion.

An inverted order, with the verb before the sub-ject, can also be used, but it is much rarer:

Comprou Jodo Id os Did John buy his livros de portuguis? Portuguese books

there?

4. Adjectives come right after forms of the verb ser:

Ź tarde?

£ bom?

A lięao e facil?

Is it late?

Is it good?

Is the lesson easy?

29. THE INFINITIVE

Portuguese uses two types of infinitives: the im-personal and the personal.

1. The impersonal infinitive is used in most cases calling for an infinitive. Practically all infinitives end in ar (verbs of the first conjugation): fałar “to speak”; in er (second conjugation): viver “to live”; or in ir (third conjugation): partir “to leave.”

Os alunos ndo ąuerem The students don’t esłudar.    want to study.