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Like all Romance languages, Portuguese does not Inflect Nouns to indicate their Grammatical Function , relying instead on a relatively rigid sentence structure (mostly SVO , often with Omitted Subject ) and on the extensive use of Prepositions . It has fairly regular Noun inflection rules to indicate Number ( Singular or Plural ), and many semi-regular ones to express biological Sex or social Gender , size, endearment, deprecation, etc.. Nouns are classified in two Grammatical Gender s, and Adjective s, Article s and Demonstrative s must be inflected to Agree with the noun in gender and number. Adjectives usually follow the noun, and cannot be inflected to express comparison (as they are in English ), but there is a Superlative inflection with the sense of "very". Each verb has about 50 inflected forms that indicate the time of the action, completeness, and other aspects, as well as the Grammatical Person and number of the subject; they include some Subjunctive inflections used in subordinate clauses. There are also many compound tenses formed with auxiliary verbs such as ''haver'' or ''ter'' ("to have"), ''estar'' or ''ser'' ("to be"), etc.. Portuguese has a number of grammatical features that distinguish it from most other Romance tongues, such as a synthetic Pluperfect Past verbal tense, a future subjunctive tense, and the inflection of the Infinitive verb form for person. A unique feature of Portuguese is Mesoclisis , the Infix ing of Weak Pronoun s in some verbal forms. SENTENCE STRUCTURE Word classes Like most Indo-European languages, including English, Portuguese classifies most of its lexicon into four s, Noun s, Adjective s, and Adverb s. These are "open" classes, in the sense that they readily accept new members, by Coinage , Borrowing , or Compounding . There are also several smaller closed classes, such as Pronoun s, Preposition s, Articles , Demonstrative s, Numerals , Conjunction s, Interjection s, and a few grammatically peculiar words such as ''eis'' ("here is"; cf. Latin ''ecce'' and French ''voilà''), ''cadê'' ("where is"), ''tomara'' ("let's hope"), and ''oxalá'' ("let's hope that"). Within the four main classes there are many semi-regular mechanisms that can be used to Derive new words from exisiting words, sometimes with change of class; for example, ''veloz'' ("fast") → ''velocíssimo'' ("very fast"), ''medir'' ("to measure") → ''medição'' ("measurement"), ''piloto'' ("pilot") → ''pilotar'' ("to pilot"). Finally, there are several Phrase Embedding mechanisms that allow arbitrarily complex phrases to behave like nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Subject, object and complement Following the general Indo-European pattern, the essential and central element of any Portuguese clause is a verb, which may directly connect to one, two, or (rarely) three nouns (or noun-like phrases), called Subject , the Object and Complement . As in English, these nouns are not especially marked, and are identified chiefly by their position relative to the verb. The most common order in Portuguese is Subject Verb Object Complement (SVOC). For example, {ele}S {nomeou}V {Pedro}O {ministro}C {ela}S {achou}V {o livro}O {uma chatice}C Any of the three noun parts may be omitted ( Elided ) if it can be inferred from the context or from other syntactic clues; but many grammatical rules will still apply as if the omitted part was there. A clause will often contain a number of adverbs (or adverbial phrases) that modify the meaning of the verb; they may be inserted between those components. Additional nouns can be connected to the verb by means of certain Preposition s, which turn them into adverbs: ele carregou {sem demora} a mala {para ela} {do carro} {até a porta} :"he carried {without delay} the bag {for her} {from the car} {to the door}" Null subject language Portuguese is a Null Subject Language , ''i.e.'', a language whose grammar permits and sometimes mandates the omission of an explicit subject. In Portuguese, the Grammatical Person of the subject is generally reflected by the inflection of the verb. Sometimes, though an explicit subject is not necessary to form a grammatically correct sentence, one may be stated in order to emphasize its importance. Some sentences, however, do not allow a subject and in some other cases an explicit subject would sound awkward or unnatural:
NOUNS Gender and number There are two Genders , masculine and feminine, and two Numbers , singular and plural. Articles and adjectives are usually inflected to Agree in gender and number with the nouns or pronouns they refer to. The neuter gender of Latin has merged with the masculine, in most cases, although a semantic trace of it remains in some pronouns. There are no Declensions ; only personal pronouns show Case . Diminutive and Augmentative forms exist for nouns. Every Portuguese noun, including inanimate objects and abstract concepts, has one of two Grammatical Gender s, Masculine and Feminine , and one of the two Grammatical Number s, Singular or Plural . The concept of number is subtantially the same as in English . The concept of gender is absolutely non-existent in English, but is otherwise an universal feature of Indo-European Languages (although Romanian , Latin , and many non-Romance languages have retained a third gender called neuter). Most Adjective s and Demonstratives s, and all articles must be inflected according to the Gender and Number of the noun they reference: esta linda casa branca este lindo carro branco estas lindas aves brancas estes lindos gatos brancos The most common noun and adjective endings are ''-o''/''-os'' for masculine singular and plural, ''-a''/''-as'' for feminine; but there are many other patterns. As in all Romance languages, the grammatical gender of inanimate entites is quite arbitrary, and often different from that used in sister languages. The gender of animate beings often matches the Biological Sex , but there are many exceptions: ''autoridade'' ("authority") and ''girafa'' ("giraffe"), for example, are always feminine; whereas ''peixe fêmea'' ("female fish") is strictly masculine. The agreement rules apply also to adjectives used with Copula s, e.g. ''o carro é branco'' ("the car is white") vs. ''a casa é branca'' ("the house is white"). Gender determination As in all Romance languages, the grammatical gender of inanimate entites is quite arbitrary, and often different from that used in sister languages: thus, for example, Portuguese ''árvore'' ("tree") and ''flor'' ("flower") are feminine, while Spanish ''árbol'' and Italian ''fiore'' are masculine; Portuguese ''mar'' ("sea) and ''mapa'' ("map") are masculine, while French ''mer'' and ''mappe'' are feminine; and so on. The gender and number of many nouns can be deduced from its ending: the basic pattern is "''-o''"/"''-os''" for masculine singular and plural, "''-a''"/"''-as''" for feminine. And, indeed, ''casa'' ("house"), ''mala'' ("suitcase"), ''pedra'' ("stone"), and ''inteligência'' ("intelligence") are all feminine, while ''carro'' ("car"), ''saco'' ("bag"), ''tijolo'' ("brick"), and ''aborrecimento'' ("annoyance") are all masculine. However, the complete rules are quite complex: for instance, nouns ending in ''-ção'' are usually feminine, except for augmentatives like ''bração'' ("big arm"). And there are many irregular exceptions. For words ending in other letters, there are few rules: ''flor'' ("flower"), ''gente'' ("folk"), ''nau'' ("ship"), ''maré'' ("tide") are feminine, ''amor'' ("love"), ''pente'' ("comb"), ''pau'' ("stick"), ''café'' ("coffee") are masculine The gender of animate beings often matches the Biological Sex , but there are many exceptions: ''autoridade'' ("authority"), ''testemunha'' ("witness"), and ''girafa'' ("giraffe"), for example, are always feminine regardless of their sex, and so are all respectful treatmens such as ''Vossa Excelência'' ("Your Excellency"); whereas ''peixe fêmea'' ("female fish") is strictly masculine. On the other hand, the gender of some nouns, as well as of 1st and 2nd person pronouns, is determined semantically by the biological sex of the referent: ''aquela estudante é nova, mas aquele estudante é velho'' ("this student(female=feminine) is new, but that student(male=masculine) is old"; or ''eu sou brasileiro'' ("I am Brazilian", said by a man) and ''eu sou brasileira'' (ditto, said by a woman). Also, many animate masculine nouns have specific feminine derivative forms to indicate female biological sex: ''lobo'' ("wolf" or "male wolf", masculine gender) → ''loba'' ("she-wolf", feminine), ''conde'' ("count", m.) → ''condessa'' ("countess", f.), ''doutor'' ("doctor" or "male doctor", m.) → ''doutora'' ("female doctor", f.), ''ator'' ("actor", m.) → ''atriz'' ("actress", f.), etc.. The feminine noun derivations should not be confused with the adjectival gender inflections, which use different (and more regular) rules. Proper nouns Romance languages often use articles where English would not; and Portuguese is particularly extreme in this regard, as it will often use articles before person names, especially in informal registers or if the name includes a title; and also before certain country and organization names: A Maria saiu A Sr.ª Maria saiu Ele visitou o Brasil, a China e a Itália Ele visitou o Rio A IBM patrocinou o MoMA Ele foi para o São Paulo However: Maria Teixeira saiu Ele visitou Portugal e Moçambique Ele foi para São Paulo The article is never used with ''Portugal'', ''Angola'', ''Cabo Verde'', ''Moçambique'' and ''Timor''. In general, article usage for proper nouns is largely determined by tradition, and varies with dialect: Este avião vai para Espanha Este avião vai para a Espanha :"This plane goes to Spain". However: Esta proposta veio da Espanha :"This proposal came from Spain", where ''Espanha'' stands for the state as a political active entity, and not for the geographical region. Diminutives Portuguese language is prodigal in the use of Diminutive s, that convey the senses of small size, endearment or insignificance. Diminutives are very, very commonly used in informal language. The most common diminutive endings are -inho and -inha, replacing -o and -a, respectively. Words with the Stress in the last Syllable generally have -zinho or -zinha added, such as Café and cafezinho. A "c" (but not a "ç") becomes a "qu" on some words, like "pouco" (few or a few) and "pouquinho" (very few), in order to preserve the /k/ pronunciation. Popular diminutives may have different forms: ''e.g.'', "poucochinho" (very few, a very small portion). Portuguese is somehow peculiar in that the diminutive endings are often used not only with nouns but also with adjectives (''e.g.'', ''tonto''/''tontinho'', meaning silly or, perhaps, "a bit silly", or ''verde''/''verdinho'', meaning "green" and "nicely green") and occasionally with adverbs (''e.g.'', ''depressa''/''depressinha'', "quickly") and some other Word Classes , as, ''e.g.'', ''obrigadinho'', which is a diminutive for the Interjection ''obrigado'' ("thanks"). Even the numeral ''um'' ("one") can informally become ''unzinho''. The same happens with ''pouco'' ("few" or "a few"), as in the previous paragraph. Notice, however, that these uses of diminutives are mostly informal, and are avoided in written language. ARTICLES There are definite and indefinite Articles , which are inflected for gender and number. They do not change form according to the word which follows them, as they do in Spanish and English. In many varieties of the language, proper nouns are commonly preceded by a definite article. Like English, Portuguese has a definite article ("the") and an indefinite one ("a"). They are inflected by gender and number, following the basic pattern: o um Unlike English and some other Romance languages, the written form of the Portuguese articles is the same, independently of the next word. On the other hand, Portuguese articles contract with certain prepositions, in writing and in speech: de em por a em de and a few more. The last two cases of contraction are very common in the spoken language, formal or informal, and are also acceptable in formal writing in Portugal, but not in Brazil. On the other hand, the first four cases are mandatory in all registers. Across clause boundaries, these contractions may occur in colloquial speech, but they are not done in writing, for clarity sake: fui apesar da loja estar fechada fui apesar de a loja estar fechada :"I went in spite of the shop being closed" The grave accent in ''à''/''às'' has phonetic value in Portugal and African countries, but not in Brazil (see Portuguese Phonology ). In Brazil, the grave accent serves only to indicate the Crasis in written text. The noun after the indefinite article may be elided, in which case the article is equivalent to English "one" (if singular) or "a few ones" (if plural): ''quero um também'' ("I want one too"), ''quero uns maduros'' ("I want a few ripe ones"). PREPOSITIONS Several prepositions contract with articles and pronouns. No Contraction is made at clause boundaries, at least in careful speech and in writing. Portuguese prepositions are somewhat similar to those of neighboring Romance languages; but there are some conspicuous differences. For example, the Italian prepositions ''di'' ("of") and ''da'' ("from") map to the same word in Portuguese, ''de''. There is no simple correspondence between English and Portuguese prepositions; the following table is a rough approximation: de em por a para sobre sob com sem até desde entre The English Possessive suffix "'s" has no systematic counterpart in Portuguese (or, for that matter, in any other Romance language except Romanian). Portuguese generally uses ''de'' ("of") to indicate possession (and other things). The English concept of "two-word verbs" (like "set up", "get by", "pick out", etc.) does not exist in Portuguese: as a rule, prepositions are attached to the noun more strongly than to the verb. ADJECTIVES Adjectives normally follow the nouns to which they refer. Thus "white house" is ''casa branca'', never ''branca casa'' (except in poetic speech, as in English " The Body Electric "). However, a few adjectives like ''bom'' ("good"), ''belo'' ("nice"), and ''grande'' ("great", "big") are often prefixed. Indeed, some of these have rather different meanings depending on position: ''um grande homem'' means "a great man", ''um homem grande'' means "a big man". They are inflected for gender and number, and have also a Superlative inflection. Other types of Comparison are made analytically, with the help of conjunctions. The rules for inflecting adjectives by gender and number are fairly regular. There are a few basic patterns, including: branco francês verde feliz marrom superior motor azul grandão However, there are a few exceptions, such as: bom lilás DEMONSTRATIVES Portuguese Demonstrative s show a three-way distinction between close to the speaker, close to the listener, and far from both: este lápis esse lápis aquele lápis In colloquial Brazilian Portuguese, ''esse'' is often used for ''este'' when there is no need to make a distinction. Demonstratives are inflected for person and number too, although the rules are a bit different from those of adjectives; and, for each form, there is also a corresponding noun (masculine singular) that is equivalent to the determiner + "thing": este esse aquele algum nenhum todo The demonstrative ''todo''/''toda''/''todos''/''todas'' is followed by the definite article. Otherwise articles and demonstratives are mutually exclusive. The noun after a demonstrative can be elided: ''quero esse também'' ("I want that one too"), ''vendi todos ontem'' ("I sold all of them yesterday"). Demonstratives that start with a vowel can be contracted with some prepositions, like the articles: ''de'' + ''esse'' = ''desse'' ("of that"), ''em'' + ''aquilo'' = ''naquilo'' ("in that thing"), ''a'' + ''aquela'' = ''àquela'' ("to that"). PLACE ADVERBS The Portuguese adverbs of place also have a three-way distinction: aqui aí ali There seem to be differences in usage between ''aqui'' and ''cá'', with the latter being used often only after prepositions: e.g. ''estamos aqui''("we are here") and ''vem para cá'' (lit., "come to here"). Differences also happen in the meaning of ''ali'', ''lá'' and ''acolá'' (especially, ''lá'' seems to be farther than ''ali''), but they are not quite distinct degrees of separation. CLITIC PRONOUNS Apart from the pronouns that act as subjects of a sentence, and from the stressed object pronouns which are employed after prepositions, Portuguese has several clitic object pronouns used with nonprepositional verbs, or as indirect objects. These can appear before the verb as separate words, as in ''ela me ama'' ("she loves me"), or appended to the verb after the tense/person inflection, as in ''ele amou-a'' ("he loved her") or ''ele deu-lhe o livro'' ("he gave her/him the book"). Note that Portuguese spelling rules (unlike those of Italian and Spanish) require a hyphen between the verb and the clitic pronoun. Clitic placement may require some adjustments in the verb ending and/or in the pronoun, e.g. ''cantar'' + ''o'' = ''cantá-lo'' ("to sing it"). The direct and indirect object pronouns can be contracted, as in ''dar'' + ''lhe'' + ''os'' = ''dar-lhos'' ("to give them to him"); cf. Spanish ''dar'' + ''le'' + ''los'' = ''dárselos''. However, this feature seems to be falling into disuse, and is completely absent from Brazilian Portuguese. A distinguishing feature of Portuguese among Romance languages is the occurrence of Mesoclisis , the insertion of the weak pronouns between the verb stem and Future or Conditional verb ending: comprá-lo-ei dar-te-lo-ia dar-lho-ia VERBS As in most Romance languages, the Portuguese verb is usually Inflected to agree with the Subject 's Grammatical Person (with three values, 1=I/us, '''2'''=you, '''3'''=he/she/it/they) and grammatical number (singular or plural), and to express various attributes of the action, such as time (past, present, future); completed, frustrated, or continuing; subordination and conditionality; command; and more. As a consequence, a regular Portuguese verb stem can take over 50 distinct suffixes. (For comparison, regular French and Italian verbs have about 30 distinct forms.) Synthetic moods and tenses Grammarians usually classify the verbal inflections (i.e. the Synthetic verb forms) into the following Moods , Tense s, and Non-finite Forms :
The conditional tense is usually called "future of the past" in Brazilian grammars, whereas in Portugal it is usually classified as a separate "conditional mood". Portuguese grammarians call subjunctive "conjuntivo"; Brazilians call it "subjuntivo". There are also are many compound tenses expressed with inflected forms of the auxiliary verbs ''ser'' and ''estar'' (variants of "to be"), ''haver'' and ''ter'' (variants of "to have"). The gerund is never inflected for person or number, and is used in compound tenses, e.g. ''ele está cantando'' ("he is singing"), and as an adverb, e.g. ''ele trabalha cantando'' ("he works while singing"). The participle is used in compound verb tenses, as in ''ele havia cantado'' ("he had sung"). It is also used as an Singular ), ''três árias cantadas'' ("three sung arias", Feminine Plural ). Some verbs have two distinct participle forms (one regular, one irregular), for these two uses. Pluperfect tense In addition to the compound forms for completed past actions, Portuguese also retains a synthetic or Literary and rarely used, except in writing. Subjunctive mood Portuguese subjunctive mood is used mainly in certain kinds of subordinate clauses. There are three synthetic subjunctive inflections, conventionally called "present", "past" and "future". The rules of usage are rather complex, but on a first approximation:
::''quero que cante'', "I want her/him to sing" ::''supondo que cante'', "assuming that he/she will sing" ::''ele será pago, cante ou não'', "he will be paid, whether he sings or not"
::''se cantasse, seria famoso'' ("if he would sing, he would be famous") ::''se cantasse, teríamos aplaudido'' ("if she had sung, we would have applauded") ::''esperávamos que cantasse'' ("we had hoped that he would sing") ::''não esperávamos que cantasse'' ("we didn't think that he would sing")
::''se cantarmos, seremos pagos'' ("If we sing, we will be paid") ::''se cantarmos, ele fica'' ("If we sing, he stays") ::''quando cantarmos, ele escutará'' ("When we'll sing, he will listen")
::''Admito que ele ''roubou'' a bicicleta.'' ("I admit that he ''did steal'' the bicycle.") ::''Admito que ele ''tenha roubado'' a bicicleta.'' ("I admit that he ''may have stolen'' the bicycle.")
::''Ando à procura de um cão que fala!'' ("I'm looking for a certain dog which can speak!") ::''Ando à procura de um cão que fale!'' ("I'm looking for any dog that speaks!") Gerund and participle forms The gerund form of a verb always ends with ''-ndo''. It is used to make compound tenses expressing continuing action, e.g. ''ele está cantando'' ("he is singing"), ''ele estava cantando'' ("he was singing"); or as an adverb, e.g. ''ele trabalha cantando'' ("he works while singing"). It is never inflected for person or number. The participle of regular verbs is used in compound verb tenses, as in ''ele tinha cantado'' ("he had sung"). It can also be used as an Singular ), ''três árias cantadas'' ("three sung arias", Feminine Plural ). Some verbs have two distinct forms (one regular, one irregular), for these two uses. Additionally, a few verbs have two different verbal participles, a regular one for the active voice, and an irregular one for the passive voice. An example is the verb ''matar'' (to kill): ''Bruto tinha matado César'' ("Brutus had killed Cesar"), ''César foi morto por Bruto'' ("Cesar was killed by Brutus"). Infinitive form The Infinitive is used, as in English, to make subordinate noun clauses that express an action at an indefinite time, and possibly with an indefinite subject, e.g. ''queremos cantar'' ("we would like to sing"), ''cantar é gostoso'' (lit. "to sing is pleasant"). Many of its uses would be translated into English by the "-ing" nominal form, e.g. ''mesa para cortar'' ("cutting table"), ''cantar é bom'' ("singing is good"), ''trabalhe sem parar'' ("work without pausing") A distinctive trait of Portuguese grammar (shared with Galician and Sardinian ) is the existence of infinitive verb forms inflected according to the person and number of the subject: É melhor voltar É melhor voltares É melhor voltarmos In regular verbs, the personal infinitive inflections are identical to those of the subjunctive future tense; but they are different in irregular verbs: ''quando formos'' ("when we will go", subjuntive) versus ''é melhor irmos'' ("it is better that we go"). Depending on the context and intended sense, the personal infinitive may be forbidden, required, or optional. In the latter case, the inflected form is usually associated with the more Formal Register s of the language. Conjugation classes Verbs are divided into three main conjugation classes according to the ending of their infinitive form, which may be either "-ar", "-er", or "-ir". There is also the irregular verb ''pôr'' ("to put") and its prefixed derivatives, which for historical reasons many grammarians still place in the "-er" conjugation class (it used to be ''poer''). Most stems belong to the "-ar" conjugation class, which is the only one open to Neologism s such as ''clicar'' ("to click" with a Mouse ). |
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