Pimsleur's Brazilian Portuguese - Lesson 27

Day 22 (Lesson 27) of Pimsleur's Brazilian Portuguese 1

Hoje a tarde- Today in the afternoon
em casa- At home
a casa do o meu pai - My dad's house
a sua casa fica por aqui o por lá?­­- Is your house located here or there?
duas cuadras - two blocks
Eu falei com ele - I spoke with him
Eu o vi- I saw him
eu falei por telefone- I spoke by telephone
você falou- You spoke
eu lhe-disse- I told him
Você lhe-disse- You told him
Já- already ...He already knows- Ele já sabe.
Você me disse- You told me
Vamos ao cinema- Lets go to the movies
Cual é o nome do filme- What is the film called
um filme moito bom- a very good movie
é excelente- it is excellent [ess-eh-lein-che)
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The Everything Learning Brazilian Portuguese Book

Chapter 5

-Covers use of -ser.
I am already familiar with how and when to use ser and estar because it works in Portuguese similarly to how it does in Spanish. This section would be quite useful to someone with no background of any language similar to Portuguese though.
-There is a long list of countries and nationalities that are also said on the CD, lists of common characteristics, fill in the blank exercises to remember some of these, mini-dialogues, a list of professions and occupations (on CD too) with more exercises.
-Shows how to use numbers with ser. (ex- 3x4=12 is três vez quatro são doze.)

Chapter 6

-Covers use of estar. Conjugations in the present tense.
-Section on describing how you feel (words which would be used with estar) with sample dialogues again.
-Expressing location with prepositional phrases
-estar in the present progressive tense
-Comparing ser and estar
-Exercises at the end to see how well you know the verbs and when to use them.
What I had more trouble with is actually using plurals which was never a problem for me in Spanish. There are certain rules in Portuguese, including:

1)If the word ends in -l, drop -l and add -is. If the result is -iis, drop one i.
Example:jornal (newspaper) becomes jornais and papel becomes papéis.
2)If the word ends in -l but the last syllable is not stressed, drop -l and add -eis.
Example:réptil becomes répteis
3)If the word ends in -s or -x, and the last syllable is not stressed, the plural is identical. (lápis is still lápis).
4)If the word ends in -m, drop -m and add -ns.
For example, jovem becomes jovens
5)Words ending in -ão:
-If the word ends in -ão and the last syllable is not stressed, add -s.
Example: órgão (organ) becomes órgãos.
-If the word ends in -ão and the last syllable is stressed, add -s or -ões, or ães:
Examples: irmão (brother) becomes irmãos
melão (melon) becomes melões
capitão (captain) becomes capitães
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There is no specific rule for when to use each one of these 3, I think I'm just supposed to know as I learn and become familiar with each word.

But, apparently:
-ões is most common, and
-ães is least common

***Oh, also, not a whole lot said on the CD for Chapter 6, but I wish the new words that are introduced that have an -x in them were said on the CD. (Since there are no rules for when to pronounce -x a certain way and it's obviously best to learn them by hearing)