Chapter I: Preface

This little book has been prepared for the use of English-speaking students who wish to get a practical knowledge of the Portuguese language. The plan of Professor Edgren’s _Brief Spanish Grammar_ has been followed, in many respects almost literally. Many Portuguese grammars have been consulted, but the ones most freely drawn from are the thirteenth edition of João Ribeiro’s _Grammatica Portugueza_, published at Rio de Janeiro in 1907, and the twenty-sixth edition of the _Nova Grammatica Portugueza_ by Bento José de Oliveira, published at Coimbra in 1904.

It is not claimed that there is much that is new or original in the work. The author has simply endeavored to follow the best Portuguese grammarians, and his own observations and experience with the language, in an effort to make it readily accessible to English-speaking students and in as compact a form as possible. It has been kept in mind that such a work, in order to be useful, must keep practical points in view even at the expense of the erudite and more scholarly features of the language. The book is purely elementary; those who require a thorough knowledge of the philologic and philosophic features of the tongue should consult the more pretentious works.

Near the end of the volume a few short examples are quoted from several of the best Portuguese authors. These examples are taken partly from Brazilian and partly from Portuguese writers.

It may be well to say here that the idea one often hears expressed to the effect that the Portuguese of Brazil is not good Portuguese is altogether erroneous. It is true that one hears purely local terms and expressions in various parts of Brazil,[1] but so he does in Portugal and, for that matter, in all languages and in every other part of the world. The language used by the educated Brazilians is just as correct in the main as that used by the educated Portuguese. The difference between the Portuguese spoken in Brazil and that spoken in Portugal is similar to the difference between the English of North America and the English of England--one about which the foreigner need not seriously concern himself.

Portuguese is a remarkably phonetic language, and one accustomed to the difficulties of the English, or even of the French, must be impressed with the comparative simplicity of its spelling. Examples of the chief orthographic difficulties are given at paragraph 13, pages 21-22. Those who are interested in this subject should consult the scholarly work of A. R. Gonçalves Viana entitled _Ortografia Nacional_, published at Lisbon in 1904. Of late years there has been some agitation in favor of orthographic reform, and the Brazilian Academy promulgated in 1907 certain rules which, if followed, would still further tend to simplify spelling. These rules, however, do not appear to have been taken seriously as yet. The Brazilian scholar who has given most careful and most practical attention to this matter of Portuguese spelling is Professor M. Said Ali, of Rio de Janeiro. He has published a _Vocabulario orthographico_ in which rules for greater simplicity are laid down, and the words about which there is any question are all given. The spelling given by Professor Said Ali has been followed in the present work. In cases where two spellings have been or are used, cross-references are made in the vocabulary.

The chief object of this book is to encourage and facilitate the study of the Portuguese language and literature by English-speaking people. It is not a little remarkable that the language has not been cultivated more by English and American scholars.[2] It is generally regarded as the most Latin of all the Latin tongues, and it certainly is a virile one, and has a “classic solemnity that distinguishes it from all other living languages.”[3] In addition, the literary, historical, and philological treasures of the Portuguese commend it to the thoughtful attention of scholars the world over, while the increasing commercial importance of Portuguese-speaking nations entitle it to respectful consideration and study for commercial, political, and diplomatic reasons.

For many corrections and valuable suggestions the author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the able Brazilian historian, Capistrano de Abreu, and to the distinguished grammarian, Professor Said Ali, who have kindly read the manuscript. For any errors, oversights, or other shortcomings of the work, however, these gentlemen are in no way responsible.

+J. C. Branner.+

+Stanford University, California.+

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As an example see “Colleção de vocabulos e frases usados na Provincia de S. Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul” por Antonio Alvares Pereira Coruja. _Revista do Instituto Historico e Geographico do Brazil_, XV, 210-240. Rio de Janeiro, 1852.

[2] Sir Richard Burton makes this comprehensive remark about the popular Anglo-Saxon idea of the Portuguese: “As a rule we dislike the language because it is nasal, and we have a deep-rooted and most ignorant idea that Portuguese, the most Latin of all the neo-Latin tongues, is a ‘bastard dialect of Spanish.’” (Burton’s _Highlands of Brazil_, I, 15.)

[3] Almeida Garrett. _Obras Completas_, XXI, 7.

CONTENTS

PAGE

+Preface+ v

+The Portuguese Language+ 1

I. +Sounds and Accents+ 4

Alphabet 4

Pronunciation 5

Vowels 5

Diphthongs 6

Nasal sounds 7

Consonants 7

Dialectical 11

Accent marks 12

Tone accent 13

Quantity 19

Syllabication 19

Capital letters 20

Orthography 21

II. +Articles+ 23

Definite article 23

Contractions 23

Syntax 24

Indefinite article 25

Syntax 26

III. +Nouns+ 26

Inflection 26

Plural formation 27

Plurals only 28

Compound words 28

Varied meanings 29

Gender 30

Masculine 30

Feminine 31

Common terminations 32

Nouns of opposite sexes 34

Related 35

Unrelated 35

Identical 35

Closely similar related nouns 35

Similar unrelated nouns 37

Qualifying suffixes 38

Augmentatives 41

Diminutives 41

IV. +Adjectives+ 43

Plural 43

Feminine 43

Comparison 44

Irregular comparisons 47

Augmentatives and diminutives 47

Syntax of nouns and adjectives 48

V. +Numerals+ 50

Cardinals 50

Ordinals 51

The fractions 52

Multiplication 53

Numeral substantives 54

Idioms with the numerals 54

VI. +Pronouns+ 56

Personals 56

Use of the third person 57

Reflexive 58

Duplication 58

Syntax of the personal pronoun 59

Possessives 61

Demonstratives 63

Determinatives 64

Interrogatives 65

Relatives 66

Indefinite 67

VII. +Verbs+ 69

Conjugations 69

Terminations of the regular verbs 70

Model verbs 72

Observations on the regular verbs 75

Auxiliary verbs 76

Conjugation of the auxiliary verbs 79

Irregular verbs 81

Reference list of irregular verbs 82

Variable participles of regular verbs 88

List of verbs having participles of two forms 89

Defective verbs 91

Subjects of verbs 91

Impersonal verbs 93

Prepositions required by verbs 94

Objects of verbs 96

Special uses of verbs 97

Periphrastic verb phrases 98

Reflexive verbs 99

Imperative and subjunctive 100

The subjunctive and the indicative 101

Personal infinitive 102

VIII. +The Indeclinables+ 103

Adverbs 103

Special cases 105

Negation 107

Double negative 107

Interrogation 108

Prepositions 108

Conjunctions 113

Interjections 114

Abbreviations 115

Similarity of words 117

IX. +Exercises+ 119

Examples of style 157

Os Santos Evangelhos 157

Alexandre Herculano 159

Almeida Garrett 162

Joaquim Nabuco 163

Julia Lopes d’Almeida 165

Gonçalves Dias 169

Marquez de Maricá 170

Luis de Camões 173

+Vocabularies+ 177

Portuguese-English Vocabulary 179

English-Portuguese Vocabulary 210

PORTUGUESE GRAMMAR

THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE

The Portuguese language[4] was evolved principally from the popular Latin spoken in the Portuguese part of the Spanish peninsula after the Roman conquest in the second century before Christ. Only a few words of the former Celtic dialects spoken there were preserved in the later Portuguese. The subsequent Gothic invasion also introduced a few words of Germanic origin, while the religious life of the people led to the introduction of certain words of Greek origin.

In the eighth century the Moors invaded the Spanish peninsula, and for several hundred years occupied portions of that region. This long contact of the Moors with the inhabitants of Portugal naturally resulted in the introduction into the Portuguese language of a good many words of Semitic origin; most of these words have as a prefix the Arabian article =al=, such as =algodão=, _cotton_; =alfinete=, _pin_. It was during the long Gothic and Arabian occupancy that the Latin spoken in western Spain appears to have gradually taken on the form of a distinct language that was spoken the whole length of the region now known as Portugal.

The oldest-known documents in the Portuguese language date from the last quarter of the twelfth century--about the time the Portuguese monarchy was founded. It was only in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, however, that it became a literary language, and took on permanent form.

A few words were introduced from the French and others from the Provençal, while translations from the Latin introduced many words and idioms from that language, partly, it is supposed, through the pedantry of the translators. The Spanish language, on account of its literary vogue, and on account of the proximity of its people and the similarity of the two tongues, necessarily reacted upon the Portuguese. This vogue was so marked that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries many Portuguese authors wrote in Spanish. The explorations of the Portuguese navigators into the newly discovered parts of the world led to the importation of some foreign words, and, at the same time, carried colonists and established the language in Asia, Africa, and South America.

In the sixteenth century the first Portuguese grammars were published by Fernão de Oliveira and João de Barros, and these works materially helped to fix the language.

It is said that of the living languages of Latin origin the Portuguese most closely resembles the Latin. This is due to the fact that Portugal, on account of its geographic position, has not been affected by contact with the rest of the world so much as Italy, France, and Spain.

In recent years, however, the increased facilities for international communication, the demands of commerce and the requirements of various enterprises and technical industries, and the spread of interest in certain sports have caused the introduction of words from various foreign tongues. In many cases the foreign words themselves have been adopted but in others the words have been more or less modified.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Condensed chiefly from the _Grammatica historica da lingua Portuguesa_ por Antonio G. R. de Vasconcelloz. Lisboa, 1900.