Questions & Answers about Falámos com o profissional.
Why is there no word for we in Falámos com o profissional?
Because Portuguese often leaves out the subject pronoun when the verb already shows who is doing the action.
Here, falámos is the 1st person plural form, so it already means we spoke.
You could say Nós falámos com o profissional, but nós is usually unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.
Example:
- Falámos com o profissional. = We spoke with the professional.
- Nós falámos com o profissional, não eles. = We spoke with the professional, not them.
What exactly does falámos mean grammatically?
Falámos is the verb falar in the pretérito perfeito simples (the simple past / preterite), 1st person plural.
So:
- falar = to speak / to talk
- falámos = we spoke / we talked
It refers to a completed action in the past.
Why does falámos have an accent?
The accent helps distinguish falámos from falamos.
- falámos = we spoke (past)
- falamos = we speak / we are speaking depending on context (present)
So the accent is important because it marks the past form and helps avoid confusion in writing. In European Portuguese, it also matches a pronunciation difference for many speakers.
What tense is this, and why is it used here?
The sentence uses the pretérito perfeito simples, which is used for an action seen as finished in the past.
So Falámos com o profissional presents the conversation as a completed event:
- we spoke to him/her
- that happened
- the action is over
If you wanted a more ongoing or repeated past idea, you would use a different tense, such as the imperfect:
- Falávamos com o profissional. = We were speaking / used to speak with the professional.
Why is it falar com here?
Because falar com alguém is the normal way to say to speak/talk with someone in Portuguese.
So:
- falar com o profissional = to speak with/to the professional
Compare:
- falar com alguém = speak with someone
- falar de algo = talk about something
- falar sobre algo = speak about something
So in this sentence, com is the preposition required to show the person you spoke with.
Could I translate falar com as both speak with and speak to?
Yes. In many contexts, falar com can correspond to either speak with or speak to in English.
So this sentence could naturally match:
- We spoke with the professional
- We spoke to the professional
The exact English choice depends more on style than on a big grammatical difference.
Why is it o profissional and not just profissional?
Portuguese often uses the definite article where English might or might not use the.
Here, o profissional suggests a specific professional, someone already known from the context.
So:
- Falámos com o profissional. = We spoke with the professional.
If you said Falámos com um profissional, that would mean:
- We spoke with a professional.
Without an article, profissional would usually not sound right in this sentence.
Is profissional a noun or an adjective here?
Here it is a noun.
Although profissional can also be an adjective, in this sentence it means the professional / the specialist / the qualified person.
Compare:
- Ele é um profissional. = He is a professional.
- atitude profissional = professional attitude
So in o profissional, it is clearly being used as a noun.
Why is there no contraction in com o?
Because com normally does not contract with the definite article in standard modern Portuguese.
So you say:
- com o profissional
- com a profissional
- com os profissionais
- com as profissionais
This is different from other prepositions, which often do contract:
So com o stays as two separate words.
Could I also say Nós falámos com o profissional?
Yes, absolutely.
That version is grammatically correct, but it is less neutral because nós adds emphasis. Portuguese usually omits subject pronouns unless they are needed.
Use nós when:
- you want contrast
- you want clarity
- you want emphasis
Examples:
How would the meaning change if it were Falávamos com o profissional instead?
That would change the tense from preterite to imperfect.
Falámos com o profissional. = We spoke with the professional.
Completed action.Falávamos com o profissional. = We were speaking with the professional / We used to speak with the professional.
Ongoing, habitual, or background action in the past.
So the sentence you have, Falámos, focuses on one finished event.
How is Falámos com o profissional pronounced in European Portuguese?
A rough learner-friendly pronunciation is:
fah-LAH-mush kong uh pro-fee-see-oh-NAL
A few useful pronunciation notes:
- Falámos has the stress on lá
- com is often pronounced with a nasal sound, roughly like kong but more nasal
- o in o profissional is usually reduced, sounding closer to u/uh
- the final -l in profissional is a dark l
You do not need to pronounce it exactly like English spelling suggests; the main thing is to keep the stress in the right place:
- fa-LÁ-mos
- profission-AL
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