Portuguese · Intermediate (B1) · Chapter 1 of 12
Stories and memories
Histórias e lembranças
Tell a story about the past in Portuguese: the pluperfect tinha feito for what had already happened, and primeiro, depois, de repente and no final.
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Tell a story with the preterite, the imperfect and the pluperfect together
- Say what had already happened with tinha + participle: tinha perdido
- Use irregular participles like feito, dito, visto and vindo
- Order events with primeiro, depois, de repente and no final
Listen
In a bar in Olinda, Tânia asks her friend Roberto how he met his wife, Sandra. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Tânia
Roberto, como você conheceu a Sandra? Você nunca me contou essa história.
Roberto, how did you meet Sandra? You've never told me that story.
Roberto
Foi aqui mesmo, em Olinda, no carnaval de 1994. Na época, eu tinha vinte e dois anos.
It was right here, in Olinda, at Carnival in 1994. At the time, I was twenty-two.
Tânia
No carnaval? E o que aconteceu?
At Carnival? And what happened?
Roberto
Eu tinha vindo do Recife com uns amigos para ver os blocos. Mas no meio da multidão, eu me perdi deles.
I had come from Recife with some friends to see the Carnival groups. But in the middle of the crowd, I lost them.
Tânia
E aí? O que você fez?
And then? What did you do?
Roberto
Primeiro, procurei os meus amigos por mais de uma hora. Depois, sentei na escada de uma igreja para descansar.
First, I looked for my friends for over an hour. Then I sat down on the steps of a church to rest.
Tânia
E a Sandra estava lá, claro.
And Sandra was there, of course.
Roberto
Estava. Ela também tinha perdido o grupo dela e estava muito nervosa, porque não conhecia Olinda.
She was. She had lost her group too and she was very nervous, because she didn't know Olinda.
Tânia
Que coincidência!
What a coincidence!
Roberto
A gente começou a conversar e, de repente, passou um bloco na frente da igreja. A gente foi com o bloco e dançou durante horas.
We started talking and suddenly a Carnival group went past the church. We went along with it and danced for hours.
Tânia
E os seus amigos? Você achou eles?
And your friends? Did you find them?
Roberto
Só no dia seguinte. Eles tinham voltado para o Recife sem mim. Mas no final deu tudo certo: dois anos depois, eu e a Sandra nos casamos.
Only the next day. They had gone back to Recife without me. But in the end it all worked out: two years later, Sandra and I got married.
Understand
The pluperfect: tinha feito
To say that something had already happened before another moment in the past, Portuguese uses the “pluperfect” (). In speech it's in the imperfect plus the past participle: (had lost), (had gone back). In writing you'll also see + participle: . Both mean the same.
Regular participles end in -ado (-ar verbs) and -ido (-er and -ir verbs): . The forms of are the imperfect you know: , , , , . A few common verbs have irregular participles.
Some verbs have a short participle that goes with and and agrees like an adjective: , . With , use the regular form: . is an exception: with too, Brazilians normally say . With both forms are common: or .
| Infinitive | Participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (I had already made dinner.) | ||
| (He hadn't said anything.) | ||
| (She had written a letter.) | ||
| (I had never seen the sea.) | ||
| (The shop hadn't opened yet.) | ||
| (Where had you put the key?) | ||
| (I had come from Recife.) |
Three past tenses in one story
A story in Portuguese mixes three past tenses. The preterite moves the story forward: what happened next. The imperfect paints the background: the situation, what was going on, how people felt. The pluperfect goes one step further back, to what had happened before.
| Tense | Its job in a story | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Preterite () | events: what happened next | |
| Imperfect () | background, situations, feelings | |
| Pluperfect () | what had happened before |
First, then, in the end
Sequencing words help the listener follow a story. means “then” or “afterwards”; after a length of time it means “later”: (two years later). is “so” or “then, at that point”. and both mean “in the end”.
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
| first | |
| then, afterwards | |
| so, then | |
| suddenly | |
| later | |
| in the end | |
| two years later |
More in the grammar: Tenho feito and tinha feito
New words
- contarto tell (a story); to count · : You've never told me
- a históriastory; history
- na épocaat the time, back then
- acontecerto happen · : What happened?
- o blocoCarnival street group · a group that parades through the streets with music, and anyone can follow
- a multidãocrowd · plural:
- perder-seto get lost · : I got lost; : I lost them (in a crowd)
- procurarto look for · no word for “for”:
- começar a…to start doing something · + infinitive: : we started talking
- de repentesuddenly
- duranteduring, for (a period) · : for hours
- no dia seguintethe next day, the following day
- casar-seto get married · : we got married; in speech also :
- dar certoto work out, to go well · : it all worked out
Practise
1.Complete: “Quando cheguei, meus amigos já … para o Recife.” (had gone back)
2.Complete with the pluperfect of : “She had lost her group too.”
She had lost her group too.
3.Complete with the participle of : “I had already made dinner.”
I had already made dinner.
4.Put the words in order.
Tap the words below in the right order.Two years later, we got married.
5.Match the Portuguese with the English.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
6.Which sentence describes the background of the story?
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
Você nunca me contou essa história.
You've never told me that story.
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.