Summary p234

234 CONYERSATIONAL PORTUGUESE

k. with parts of the body and articles of clothing instead of the possessive form:

O menino lavou    The boy washed his

as maos.    hands.

Ela perdeu as luvas. She lost her gloves.

8. THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Masculine	um	uns
Feminine	uma	umas
	SINGULAR
urn homem	a man
uma mulher	a woman
	PLURAL
uns homens	some (a few) men

umas mułheres    some (a few) women

1. The indefinite article is omitted:

a.    before a noun of occupation, nationality, etc., coming after the verb, especially if the noun is not modified:

Ele e capitao.    He is a captain.

Ela e aluna.    She is a student.

b.    before cem a hundred, and mil a thousand:

cem entrevistas    a hundred intemews

mil esperanęas    a thousand hopes

c.    in certain expressions:

Ele saiu sem chapeu. He left without a hat.

9. CONTRACTIONS

1. de + o — do de+os—dos of the, from the de+ a = da de + as = das

a+o — ao a+os=aos to the a + a = a    a + as—ds

em+o — no em + os—nos in the, on the em + a — na em + as — nas

do menino	dos meninos	of the boy, of the boys
da menina	das meninas	of the girls, of the girls
ao menino	aos meninos	to the boy, to the boys
a menina	as meninas	to the girl, to the girls
no lago	nos logos	in (on) the lakę, in the lakes
na pdtria	nas pdtrias	in the fatherland, in the fatherlands

2. Contractions of de and em with the indefinite article (um and its other forms) are optional, both contracted and noncontracted forms being used:

de um artigo or    of an article

dum artigo

de uma arvore or    of a tree

duma drvore

em umas aldeias or in some villages numasaldeias