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Published: 25/07/2008

Extent: 8 Hrs

 

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Summary:

Learn another language the way you learnt your own

You learnt your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Portuguese in the same way.

You'll stick with it because you'll love it

Use the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas.

This method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Portuguese in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself.

You learn through listening and speaking without the pressure of writing or memorising.

You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably.

 

The NEW Portuguese Foundation Course

• Learn another language the way you learnt your own

• Effective method - the Michel Thomas Method of language teaching works with the brain

• Motivating - live classroom situation with two students encourages you to learn with the students on the recording
• All-audio - the way you want to learn

• Pronunciation is gently - but effectively - corrected

• Reference booklet - accompanying booklet lists key phrases in English and Portuguese

• Suite of progressive and complementary course components: Introductory, Foundation, Advanced and Vocabulary

• Sales record - the hugely successful Michel Thomas Method is applied to Portuguese

Table of Contents:
-ible / -able cognates
(não) é para mim / para o senhor/a senhora (‘it’s (not) for me / for you’ - negatives & prepositions)
lamento (‘I’m sorry’ - ‘I’ verb ending)
-ant / -ent cognates
porque é que…? (‘why is it that?’ - asking questions) / tenho( o), quero(-o) (‘I have it, I want it’)
não o tenho/quero (‘I don’t have/want it’ - reinforce ‘I’ verb ending & position of ‘it’)
o que…? (‘what…?’ - asking questions)
tem / quer /quere-o (‘you have/want it’ - ‘you’ [formal] verb ending) / posso (‘I can’) / pode (‘you can’)
fazer / comer / ver / saber (‘to do/eat/see/know’ - introduction to verb infinitive)
‘to be hungry’ idiom
ary cognates
position of ‘it’ etc. with verb infinitives
precisar de (‘to need OF’ - verb + ‘of’ & contraction of ‘of’ and ‘it’)
não o quero ver/quero vê-lo (‘I don’t want to see it/I want to see it’ - position of ‘it’ & infinitive
-ence / -ance cognates
a / uma (‘the/a’)
esta (‘this’)
jantar ‘to dine’)
-tion cognates
onde? (‘where’)
pode (‘will you/can you?’ + dar (‘to give’)
converting ‘-tion’ nouns into verbs
introduction to the 3 types of verb infinitive (-AR / -ER / -IR)
sair (‘to go out’) / vir (‘to come’) / compreender (‘to understand’) / dizer (‘to say’) / comprar (‘to buy’) / ver (‘to see’) / ter (‘to have’) with o, a, os, as, me (‘it, them, me’)
tenho & tenho de (‘I have’ & ‘I have to’)
quando? (‘when’) / -ic cognates
the position and agreement of adjectives
em Portugal / no Brasil (‘in Portugal/in [the] Brazil’)
como? / quanto? (‘how’ / ‘how much’)
estar (estou & está) vs. ser (sou & é) (‘to be/I am/you are/she/he/is’ - two verbs for ‘to be’)
ir + infinitive (‘to be going to’ - introduction to immediate future)
mais (‘more’)
how to ask ‘at what time?’
use of ele / ela / o senhor /a senhora (‘he/she/you’) to clarify or emphasise
reinforce adjective agreement and use of two forms of ‘to be’
tudo & nada (‘everything/nothing’)
muito (‘much/very’)
Portuguese verb infinitives: -AR / -ER / -IR
com ele, com ela, com o senhor, comigo (‘with him / her / you’)
/ present tense (‘I / she / he / you’ formal)
encontrar / falar / vender / compreender (‘to find/speak/sell/understand’)
how to express in Portuguese ‘am -ing’, ‘is -ing’, ‘are -ing’ and ‘do’ / ‘does’ / ‘don’t’ / ‘doesn’t’
escrever / saber / fazer / sair/ gostar de / dizer / preparer (‘to write/know/do/go out/like/say/prepare’)
‘what’ (middle) = o que
‘want’ + ‘say’ = ‘mean’
two tracks: AR track /not -AR track / present tense (‘they’ and ‘you all’) / vowel sounds
present tense: irregular forms for ‘I’: dou / estou / sou / vou / sei (‘I give/am/go/know’)
present tense: ‘you’ (informal)
commands: switching tracks
‘this’ as adjective and pronoun
position of pronoun with negative command / position of pronoun with positive command
ir / chegar (‘to go/arrive’)
present tense: ‘we’ form
‘nho’ verbs (faço, venho ‘I do/make’ etc.) verbs
the imperative: ‘nho’ verbs become ‘nha’; ‘zer/ço-go’ verbs (dizer, fazer, trazer - ‘to say/do/bring’) become ‘ça-ga’
reflexive verbs: levantar-se (‘to lift oneself up = to get up’)
há (‘there is/are’)
demasiado (‘too/too much’)
vemo-nos (‘we’ll see each other’ = ‘meet up’)
future tense: • with present • with ‘going to’ • with ‘will’ endings
the future tense (‘I will buy’)
the conditional tense (‘I would buy’)
future tense with pronouns
gostaria de (‘I would like’)
the past tense (‘I bought/have bought’ etc.)
ficar / começar (‘to be situated, remain, stay / to begin’)
progressive tenses (‘to be making’): estar a + infinitive
making suggestions
esperar (‘to wait’); perguntar (‘to ask’)
in order to (para)
to have just … (acabar de …)
ago (há)

About the Author(s):

Virginia Catmur studied Portuguese at the universities of Oxford and Lisbon. As Languages Editor at Hodder, she worked in the studio with Michel Thomas during the recording of his Advanced courses in 2004 and was responsible for their audio editing. She has since developed courses in new languages using the Michel Thomas Method.

Readership:
Self-access course for adult beginners

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