Lesson p032

32 CONYERSATIONAL PORTUGUESE

its płace in Portugal and in Brazil. O senhor, a senkora, and their plural forms are the “polite” or less “familiar” iforms.

3.    Notice that there are six endings:

Singular

—o    indicates    the speaker (I).

(—as)    indicates    the person spoken to (you).

It is the familiar form.

—a    indicates    someone or something

spoken about (he, she, it), or spoken to (you).

Plural

—amos    indicates    several people including

the speaker (we).

(—ais)    indicates    the persons spoken to

(you). Thisform is rarely used.

—am    indicates those spoken about (they),

or spoken to (you, plural).

4.    Notice that the verb form used with ele, eła, o senhor, a senkora, and voce is the same: fala. The plurals of these have the same form: falam.

5. Notice that several forms of the subject pro-nouns differ depending on whether men or women are speaking or are being spoken about:¹

ele fala ela fala

ileś falam elas falam

he speaks she speaks

they speak (men) they speak (women)

12. “THE” AND “A”

1. The

o menino    the boy    os meninos    the boys

a menina    the girl    as meninas    the girls

Notice that the word for “the” is in some cases o (plural: os), in other cases a (plural: as). Nouns that take o are called “masculine,” nouns that take a are called “feminine.” Nouns referring to males are masculine, nouns referring to females are feminine. In the case of other nouns you should leam the gender of the noun, that is, whether it is masculine or feminine.

2. A (an)
um menino	a boy
uma menina	a girl
uns meninos	some (a few) boys
umas meninas	some (a few) girls

	QUIZ 5
L eu	1. they speak (masc.)
2. nós	2. she speaks
3. o senhor fala	3. she
4. ele	4. you speak (to friends,
	plural)
5. eles falam	5. I
6. voces falam	6. you speak {masc. sing.
	“polite”)
7. as senhoras falam	7. he

1

This is also true when the pronouns refer to masculine or feminine nouns (see section 13 of Portuguese Grammar Summary).