Português → English
Introducing yourself: ser, chamo-me, tu, você, o senhor
The first exchanges in European Portuguese: ser in the present (eu sou, tu és, ele é, nós somos, eles são), a name with chamo-me and Como te chamas?, polite address with o senhor and a senhora (Como se chama?), the subject pronoun left out, and where someone is from (sou de Lisboa, De onde és?).
A first meeting:
— Bom dia, chamo-me Ana.
— Olá, chamo-me Pedro.
— Como estás?
— Bem, obrigado.
— Muito gosto, Ana.
— O gosto é meu. Até breve!
Olá (hi) and bom dia (good morning) open a conversation; até breve (see you soon) closes it, and tchau (bye) between friends. Como estás? (how are you?) is asked of a friend; muito gosto (nice to meet you) is answered with o gosto é meu (nice to meet you too). In the present, ser is eu sou (I am) and tu és (you are, to a friend or a child): Eu sou estudante. A job after ser takes no article. A name is given with chamo-me (my name is): Chamo-me Beatriz. With tu, the form is chamas-te: Tu chamas-te Miguel? In the set question Como te chamas? (what's your name?), te comes before the verb, so the verb is written chamas alone. The hyphen in chamo-me and chamas-te is part of the spelling.
Show the answer ser · presente · eu souShow the answer
Show the answer ser · presente · tu ésShow the answer
With ele (he) and ela (she), ser is é: Ele é estudante, ela também. The same form is used with a person's name. With chamar-se, the form is chama-se: Ele chama-se Nuno.
É (is) takes an acute accent. Without the accent, e is a different word, meaning “and”: English speakers who leave accents out turn one word into the other.
Show the answer ser · presente · ele/ela/você éShow the answer
Show the answer chamar-se · presente · ele/ela/você chama-seShow the answer
English has one you. Portuguese uses tu with family, friends and children, and o senhor (to a man) or a senhora (to a woman) with a stranger, an older person or a customer. O senhor and a senhora take the verb in the third person, like ele and ela: O senhor é professor? A senhora chama-se Ana? The polite question for a name is Como se chama?, with se before the verb, as te in Como te chamas?; the answer stays chamo-me. In Portugal, você also takes the third person (você é), but it is used with care: speakers often leave it out, or use the person's name or o senhor instead.
The English speaker's trap is és or te chamas for a polite you: A senhora é de Lisboa?, never a senhora és.
Show the answer Boa tarde. A senhora ___ (chamar-se) Marta? chama-seShow the answer
Show the answer Boa noite. Como se ___ (chamar-se)? chamaShow the answer
In the plural, ser is nós somos (we are), vocês são (you are, to more than one person), eles são (they are, men or a mixed group) and elas são (they are, women only): Somos médicos. Eles são professores. Vocês takes the same form as eles. Where English has are for we, you and they, Portuguese has two forms, somos and são.
In Portuguese the subject pronoun is usually left out, because the ending of the verb shows the person: Sou professor (I'm a teacher), São estudantes (they're students). The pronoun is kept for contrast, or to avoid ambiguity between ele, ela and o senhor.
Show the answer ser · presente · nós somosShow the answer
Show the answer ser · presente · eles/elas/vocês sãoShow the answer
Where someone is from is given with ser followed by de and the name of the town or of the country: Sou de Évora. É de Portugal. Somos de Lisboa. São de Braga. Portugal, Lisboa, Coimbra, Braga, Faro, Évora and Aveiro take no article. Some names do, such as o Porto and o Brasil: they are met with the countries and towns that take the article.
The question is De onde és? (where are you from?), or, politely, De onde é o senhor?, and to more than one person De onde são? In Portuguese de comes before onde; English from can come at the end of the sentence, but Portuguese de never does.
Show the answer Eu sou ___ Coimbra. deShow the answer
Show the answer De ___ és, Inês? ondeShow the answer
The forms of ser (eu sou, tu és, ele / ela / o senhor é, nós somos, vocês / eles / elas são), the name with chamo-me, chamas-te, chama-se and Como se chama?, tu or o senhor, the subject pronoun left out and ser de mixed, with não where a sentence says no.
Show the answer Boa tarde. Chamo-me Tiago. ___ (ser) médico. SouShow the answer
Show the answer Bom dia. Como se ___ (chamar-se) o senhor? chamaShow the answer
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