European Portuguese for Beginners | 7 DEADLY Mistakes (& How to Fix Them)

If you're curious, the word for armadillo is "tatu".

I actually do a ton of listening practice. While driving I listen to a lot of Podcasts, also have a few audio books. It helps me a lot especially when I cant sit down and do any learning in the evenings

Its important to understand that in Portuguese we use the word "lingua" to describe a language, it may not seem obvious at first, but to achieve certain sounds, our tongue(lingua), must move to the correct place. For example, a native English speaker, that tries to say the word "the", can not say it correctly if the tongue is placed away from the front teeth. To learn any language our tongue must move to places that may not be natural in our native language. My first lessons when I started learning English many moons ago, were all about different "lingua" positions. Just my two cents.

The sim and bem being pronounced more similarly to sing and beng in English is something I thought of straight away when I heard these words being spoken. I was like “oh they are just saying sing but cutting off that G sound” and that’s how I’ve learnt to pronounce it. Super helpful to know and get the hang of these sounds.

Ok Liz, about "tu" e "você". If you are well at ease with a person, say a friend of yours, you can use "tu". If someone is not a good friend, the form youl'd use is "você". Why? Because "você" is the short expression for "vossa mercê", That wording would be used when someone in the 'people's area' would use when addressing to a person in an higher rank in society, say a landlord, a doctor, etc.. You can rouhgly translate it to "your excelency". Later, this very polite way of treatment, become "vossemecê" (you still can hear mostely in the north of Portugal) as a common way to treat other person, say, at about the some social hierarchy but with respect, like a son addressing to his father. In short "vossa mercê" become "vossemecê" and finally "você".However you should avoid to use it because if doing so is like pointing with your finger to the person you are talking to, or in a written text: "YOU!!!" Note that today the most common way of treatment is "você" used in a non formal way but with some kind of respect. The reason brasilians use most of the time the expression "você" is because most of brasilian peole originated from the bottom part of a colonial society and the formula used to address the higher ranks was that one. Did I say your way of teaching PT is a very good one and I try not to miss them? Please keep your really good work!

Not sure if someone mentioned this already , but “você” is not so commonly used because it was connected with social status, so the younger generations have been dropping this, and even in some professional environment we see that this formality is no longer in use. Obviously if you just met someone, and that someone is older we tend to use it, but most of the time we switch to “Tu” very quickly :)

Liz, by far and away the best Portuguese teacher on YT, especially for us native English speakers, your explanations are so clear and concise! So glad I found your channel!! Muito obrigado!!

Great video, Liz! Thanks.

Adoro essa moça! Um abração do Brasil! Que inglês perfeitinho de entender...

Brilliant as usual Liz! Excelente trabalho. Não há canal melhor para quem quiser aprender português poder fazê-lo. Já te mencionei a alguns amigos estrangeiros, e nunca eles evoluiram mais do que agora. São pessoas que basicamente são forçadas a falar português porque vivem cá, mas que nunca tiveram realmente oportunidade de aprender decentemente, o que só atrapalha a evolução. Tocas nos pontos certos acerca da nossa língua, e isso é o essencial. Muito obrigado pelo teu esforço. Nunca pares :)

Indeed! Six decades of speaking Spanish & Norwegian with little difficulty and here I am trying to "get" Portuguese. And finally I find a person teaching Continental Portuguese who speaks the same linguistics that I've spent my life with. Thank you!

I've watched a number of your videos and they're all terrific. Great work!!

O video e muito util, obrigado Liz!

OMG, thanks so much for clearing that up.

Thanks, Liz. Great content as always. Any progress on a Post Beginners / Intermediate course yet? I'll be in once it happens. Here's hoping!

Lots of helpful tips. Thank you!

Your videos are ALWAYS on time!!!! Obrigada!

thanks for the tips and tricks!👍

Obrigado por esta excelente lição de inglês...

Thank you, this was so helpful.