Learn European Portuguese with dialogues – Things and Colors

The skills of orally describing inanimate objects are important. These are basic grammar and vocabulary knowledge that every child acquires at a very early age to communicate, exchange information, and develop intellectually. The same path is taken by a person learning a foreign language in a conscious age. The words related to today’s topic are highlighted in the dialogue below. With the help of this dialogue, we will immediately look at the use of grammar in context.

Dialogue

Ana: Olá, João! Como estás? (Hello, John! How are you?)

João: Olá, Ana! Estou bem, e tu? (Hello, Ana! I’m fine, and you?)

Ana: Também estou bem. Olha, o que é isto? (I am well too. Look, what is this?)
*aponta para um livro perto dela (points to a book near her)

João: Isso é um livro de receitas. Gosto de cozinhar. (This is a cookbook. I like cooking.)

Ana: Que interessante! E aquilo? (How interesting! And that?)
*aponta para um quadro na parede, ao fundo da sala (points to a painting on the wall at the back of the room)

João: Aquilo é um quadro da minha avó. Gosto muito das cores. O quadro tem muito azul e verde.
(That’s a painting of my grandmother. I really like the colors. The painting has a lot of blue and green.)

Ana: Que bonito! E isso? (How beautiful! And that?)
*aponta para a caneta que o João tem na mão (points to the pen that João has in his hand)

João: Isto é uma caneta vermelha. A cor vermelha é a minha preferida. (This is a red pen. The color red is my favorite.)

Ana: Eu gosto mais de canetas azuis. Tens uma caneta azul? (I like blue pens best. Do you have a blue pen?)

João: Sim, está aqui. (Yes, it’s here.)

Ana: Obrigada! E isto? (Thanks! And this?)
*pega num telemóvel (pick up a cell phone)

João: Isso aí é o meu telemóvel. Preciso do telemóvel para trabalhar e falar com os meus amigos. (That’s my cell phone. I need my cell phone to work and talk to my friends.)

Ana: Ah! E aquilo? (Oh! And that?)
*Ana aponta para um caderno amarelo (Ana points to a yellow notebook)

João: Aquilo é um caderno. É amarelo. Tenho também um caderno verde. Está ali. (That’s a notebook. It’s yellow. I also have a green notebook. It’s there.)

Ana: Gosto de cadernos coloridos. As cores fazem os objetos mais interessantes, não é? (I like colorful notebooks. Colors make objects more interesting, don’t they?)

Ana: Sim, sem dúvida. (Yes, without a doubt.)

Colors (Cores)

Colors are adjectives that change gender and number, that is, their endings, depending on the gender and number of the noun they refer to. To begin with, let’s expand our vocabulary with colors in the masculine singular:
preto (black), azul (blue), castanho (brown), verde (green), cinzento (gray),
vermelho (red), branco (white), amarelo (yellow)

The same rules apply to colors as to regular adjectives, that is, to make the feminine form, one needs to change the masculine ending “o” to the feminine ending “a”: preta, branca, amarela. To create the plural form, we add the letter “s“: pretas, brancas, amarelas.

The colors “azul” and “verde” are exceptions because their masculine and feminine forms are the same: barco azul (синийкорабль) – caneta azul (синяяручка), vestido verde (зеленоеплатье) – mochila verde (зеленыйрюкзак). The color “blue,” like all adjectives ending in the letter “l,” has a special plural form: blue markers (синиемаркеры).

Two colors that are used only as combinations of words are:

• сor de laranja (orange), cor de rosa (rose)

These phrases do not change depending on the gender and number of the object they refer to.

This

In Portuguese, the word “it” has three different forms. It is hard to say how much this simplifies or complicates the language, because on one hand, the different forms contain additional information (we will see what kind later), while on the other hand, a foreigner has to make some effort to choose the right option.

So, the form for “it” needs to be chosen based on the following principle: the distance from the object to the speaker. That is, if the thing is literally in the hand of the speaker, they should use the form “isto.” If the thing is next to the person to whom the phrase is addressed, then the speaker uses the form “isso.” However, if the object is far from both, the speaker uses the form “aquilo.” It immediately becomes clear where to look for what is being talked about.

Notice how in the dialogue the forms “isso” and “isto” change depending on who pronounces them. Try to imagine where the object that Ana and João are talking about is located in space.

There/Here

When pointing out the location of an object or person, we need to use the same technology – evaluate the distance to the speaker. If there is one translation option for the word “there” in Portuguese – ali, then for the word “here” there are two options: aqui – next to the speaker, aí – next to the person spoken to. In the dialogue, additional comments indicating direction will help you orient yourself.

The verb “to like”

So now we know how to state the fact that an object has a certain color:

• A folha é verde (The leaf is green). Here we use the verb “ser” (to be).

With its help, we can also talk about our favorite color:

• Azul é a minha cor preferida. (Blue is my favorite color.)

But to say differently that we like a certain color, we need the verb “gostar” (to like) and the mandatory preposition “de” after it: Eu gosto de azul. (I like blue.) Of course, we can use this verb not only with colors but in any situation. It is regular and conjugates according to the general rule for conjugating all verbs ending in “-ar”. Let’s look at the table below:

Conclusion

This is how our knowledge of Portuguese vocabulary and grammar increases step by step. At first this seems not enough, but grain by grain of sand adds up to a whole pyramid. The main thing is not to rush into a huge amount of information, trying to absorb it quickly in a short time. For example, one of our articles can be equated to one lesson. And that’s enough!