Portuguese · Beginner (A1) · Chapter 5 of 12
Family and friends
Família e amigos
Talk about your family in Portuguese, say how old people are with ter, and use my, your, his and her.
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Name the people in your family
- Ask and say how old someone is
- Use my, your, his, her, our and their: meu, seu, dele, dela, nosso, deles
Listen
At work in Curitiba, Camila shows her colleague Thiago a family photo on her phone. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Camila
Olha, Thiago, a minha família.
Look, Thiago, my family.
Thiago
Que foto bonita. Quem é?
What a lovely photo. Who's that?
Camila
São os meus pais. A minha mãe tem sessenta anos e o meu pai tem sessenta e dois.
They're my parents. My mother is sixty and my father is sixty-two.
Thiago
E quem é ele?
And who's he?
Camila
É o meu irmão, o Felipe, com a esposa e a filha dele.
That's my brother, Felipe, with his wife and daughter.
Thiago
Que bonita. Quantos anos ela tem?
How sweet. How old is she?
Camila
Ela tem quatro anos. E você, Thiago, tem irmãos?
She's four. And you, Thiago, do you have any brothers or sisters?
Thiago
Tenho uma irmã. E eu tenho um filho de dois anos.
I have a sister. And I have a two-year-old son.
Camila
Você tem uma foto dele?
Do you have a photo of him?
Thiago
Tenho, sim. Olha.
Yes, I do. Look.
Understand
Ter: to have, and how old you are
means “to have”. Portuguese also uses for age: you “have” years. (I'm thirty, literally “I have thirty years”). To ask, say (How old are you?).
To answer a yes-or-no question, Brazilians often just repeat the verb: (Yes, I do.) or (No, I don't.)
You know for “there is” from chapter 4. In that meaning it never changes, even for many things: (There are two banks near here).
| Person | (to have) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| / / | ||
| (we) | ||
| / / (you all / they) |
My, your, his, her
(my) and (your) change to match the noun, not the owner: , , , . Add -s for the plural: , . Brazilians often put or before them: and are both correct.
In Brazil, / normally means “your” (to ). In writing it can also mean “his”, “her” or “their”, so to be clear Brazilians say (of him), (of her), / (of them) after the noun: (his daughter), (her husband). For “your” to several people, say : . / (our) works like .
For a group of men and women, use the masculine plural: (parents), (brothers and sisters), (children, sons and daughters). means “They're my parents”.
| English | with a masculine noun | with a feminine noun |
|---|---|---|
| my | ||
| your () | ||
| his | ||
| her | ||
| our | ||
| your () | ||
| their | / | / |
Two sounds: lh and nh
lh sounds like the “lli” in “million”: , . nh sounds like the “ny” in “canyon”: , .
More in the grammar: Possessives and demonstratives · Present tense of irregular verbs · Ter and haver: have, there is, ago · The alphabet and pronunciation
New words
- olhalook · to show someone something
- a famíliafamily · feminine
- bonito / bonitabeautiful, lovely, good-looking
- Quem é?Who is it? / Who's that?
- os paisparents · masculine plural
- a mãe / o paimother / father
- o irmão / a irmãbrother / sister · = brothers and sisters
- a esposa / o maridowife / husband
- o filho / a filhason / daughter · = children
- Quantos anos ela tem?How old is she?
- ter… anosto be… years old
- dele / delahis / her (after the noun)
- o avô / a avógrandfather / grandmother · has a closed “o”, an open “o”
- o namorado / a namoradaboyfriend / girlfriend
Practise
1.How do you say “I'm thirty”?
2.Complete with “my”: “my mother”.
my mother
3.Complete with “her”: “Ana and her husband”.
Ana and her husband.
4.Put the words in order to ask someone's age.
Tap the words below in the right order.How old are you?
5.Match the family words.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
6.Camila asks Thiago has a sister. What does he answer?
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
Tenho dois irmãos e uma irmã.
I have two brothers and a sister.
Listen, then say it out loud, as close to the recording as you can.
Check
Five questions on this chapter. Then mark it as finished to add its words to your review deck.
0 of 5 answered.