Summary p268

268 CONYERSATIONAL PORTUGUESE

2. The personal infinitiye has endings which make it easier to identify the subject of the infinitiye.

falar

(fałares)

falar

falarmos (falardes) falarem

Thus, the personal infinitiye can be used for clarity:

Parti sem me falarem.

Antes de jantarmos no restaurante espanhol ąue estd na esąuina, estudamos.¹

I left without their speaking to me.

Before dining in the Spanish restaurant which is on the comer, we studied.

Notę that the personal infinitiye makes the subject of the infinitiye known early in the sentence.

30. THE TENSES OF THE VERB

Portuguese verbs are generally considered under three classes or conjugations:

I —falar \\~aprender III- partir

1. The present; regular verbs have the following endings added to the stem of the verb (the infinitiye minus the last two letters):

I	II	lii
-o	-0	-o
(-as)	(-es)	(-es)
-a	-e	-e

¹ Portugal uses an accent mark to distinguish the past tense (preterit) from the present: estudamos, estudamos.

-amos	-emos	amos
(-ais)	(-eis)	fis)
-am	-em	-em
falar to speak	aprender to learn	pariir to leave
falo	aprendo	parto
(falas)	(aprendes)	(partes)
fala	aprende	parte
falamos	aprendemos	partimos
(falais)	(aprendeis)	(partis)
falam	aprendem	partem
The present can be translated in		several ways:

Falo portugues.

I speak Portuguese.

Kłam speaking Portuguese. I do speak Portuguese.

2. The imperfect; regular verbs have the following endings added to the stem of the verb:

i	ii and iii
-ava	-ia
(-avas)	(-ias)
-ava	•ia
•avamos	-iamos
(-dveis)	(-ieis)
-avam	-iam

a. The imperfect is used:

1. to indicate continued or customary action in the past:

Quando eu estava    When I was in Coimbra

em Coimbra escrevia I would write cartas todos os dias. letters every day.