I came into work the other day and over my papaya and granola breakfast, excitedly shared the latest lesson I learned from my Portuguese workbook. I explained how I could use the shortened version of "it" and "them." For instance:
Quando Paulo pega nas filhos de escola? (When does Paulo pick up the kids from school?)
O Paulo nos pega à tarde. (He picks them up in the afternoon.)
As soon as the words come out of my mouth, Franqui says "yeah, we don't really say that. It's very formal."
What? All my efforts the night before down the drain!
In fact, a lot of spoken Portuguese is much more casual than the written, taught language. There are verbal shortcuts for everything. Portuguese speakers are either very efficient, lazy, rebellious, or all three.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment