LESSON 09

In this lesson you will learn how to answer to the phone in Portuguese from the more formal to the more familiar ways.

Dialogue A (at work)	Phonetic Transcription
– Escritório de Advocacia J S, boa tarde…	–iskriTÓriu djadjivókaSÍA Jóta Ési, bôa TAHdji...
– Boa tarde. Dr. João, por favor.	– Bôa TAHdji. DôwTÔH juÃW, puh faVÔH.
– Um momento...	– ~u móM~ENtu
Literal Translation	Proper Translation
– J S Advocacy Office, good afternoon…	– J S Advocacy Office, good afternoon…
– Good afternoon. Dr. João, please.	– Good afternoon. Could you please call Dr. João?
– One moment…	– Wait a moment…

The person who called could also have said “Gostaria de falar com o Dr. João.” (I’d like to talk to Dr. João, “góstaRIa dji faLAH cõw douTOH juÃW”). However, the basic “model” is exactly this one: everytime you call a commercial telephone in Brazil you will hear the firm’s name plus greetings (depending on the day time, “bom dia”, “boa tarde” or “boa noite”). You’d rarely call a firm and have the person in the other line answering “Alô”, which is the common way to answer to the phone at home. Let’s go to the home examples:

Dialogue B (at home, formal)	Phonetic Transcription
– Alô!	–aLÔ...
– Alô. Gostaria de falar com Teresa, ela está?	– aLÔ. Gostaria dji faLAH cõ teRÊza, Éla isTÁ?
– Não, ela saiu. Quer deixar recado?	–nãw, Éla saIW. Ké deyxahéKAdu?
– Sim, diga a ela que Ana ligou.	– s~i, DJIga a Éla ki Ãna liGÕW.
– Certo, vou dizer.	SÉHtu, vôw djiZÊH.
Literal Translation	Proper Translation
– Hello!	– Hello!
– Hello. I’d like to talk to Teresa, is she?	– Hello. I’d like to talk to Teresa, is she (there, at home)?
– No, she left. Want to let message?	– No, she left. Do you want to let a message?
–Yes, tell her that Ana called.	– Yes, tell her Ana has called (her).
– Right, (I) go to say.	– Ok, I will.

More about answering the phone in the Lesson 11. Now, let’s have some grammar…

The verb “to be” – Part II

In the previous lesson, we talked about the first verb used for “to be” in Portuguese: the verb ser. Now, we’re going to explain the usage of the other verb: estar.

Estar is basically used for transitory conditions, while ser is used for permanent ones. Estar is also an irregular verb, as it doesn’t follow the patterns of the conjugation it belongs to (the first one, -ar verbs). Bellow you see the conjugation pattern for estar (presente do indicativo). The transcription indicates how it is pronounced in its “complete” form and in its widely spread short form.

	Estar (1st Conjugation, irregular)
Eu	estou (isTÔW, to)
Tu	estás (istás, tá)
Ele	está (istá, tá)
Nós	estamos (isTÃmus; TÂmus orTÃmu)
Vós	estais (estais; vós isn’t widely used)
Eles	estão (isTÃW; tãw)