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Portuguese (Portugal)

When you want to give instructions, make requests, or walk someone through a recipe step-by-step, you use the imperative mood (commands). In this lesson, we will focus on giving formal affirmative commands to someone you address as **você** (singular) or to a group of people addressed as **vocês** (plural).

### The "Vowel Swap" for -ar Verbs

To form a formal command, we take the *eu* (I) form of the present tense, drop the final **-o**, and add an "opposite" vowel. 

For **-ar** verbs, that means swapping the expected "a" sound for an **e**. You add **-e** when speaking to one person (*você*), and **-em** when speaking to multiple people (*vocês*).

| Infinitive | *você* (Singular) | *vocês* (Plural) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **cortar** (to cut) | **corte** | **cortem** |
| **juntar** (to add) | **junte** | **juntem** |
| **misturar** (to mix) | **misture** | **misturem** |

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### Commands for -er and -ir Verbs

For **-er** and **-ir** verbs, we follow the exact same logic, but the opposite vowel is **a**. We add **-a** for a single person and **-am** for a group.

| Infinitive | *você* (Singular) | *vocês* (Plural) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **mexer** (to stir) | **mexa** | **mexam** |
| **abrir** (to open) | **abra** | **abram** |

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### Commands with Pronouns

When giving step-by-step instructions, it is common to replace the object with a pronoun (like saying "mix it" instead of "mix the milk"). In affirmative commands, direct object pronouns attach directly to the end of the verb with a hyphen. Notice that if the verb ends in an **-m**, the pronoun becomes **-no** or **-na**!

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Formal commands (corte, bebam)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
to cut	cortar
Cut the meat and the bread, please.	Corte a carne e o pão, por favor.
Cut the apples for the dessert.	Cortem as maçãs para a sobremesa.
the onion	a cebola
I like meat with a lot of onion.	Eu gosto de carne com muita cebola.
Cut the onion and the lemon.	Corte a cebola e o limão.
the tomato	o tomate
The salad has tomato and onion.	A salada tem tomate e cebola.
Cut the tomatoes now.	Cortem os tomates agora.
the garlic	o alho
The soup needs little garlic.	A sopa precisa de pouco alho.
Wash the garlic, please.	Lavem o alho, por favor.
the frying pan	a frigideira
The frying pan is on the stove.	A frigideira está em cima do fogão.
Clean the frying pan, please.	Limpe a frigideira, por favor.
to add	juntar
Add the garlic and the onion to the frying pan.	Junte o alho e a cebola à frigideira.
Add a lot of cheese to the bread.	Juntem muito queijo ao pão.
to stir	mexer
Stir the soup with the spoon.	Mexa a sopa com a colher.
Stir the meat in the frying pan.	Mexam a carne na frigideira.
to mix	misturar
Mix everything very well.	Misture tudo muito bem.
Mix the milk and drink it.	Misturem o leite e bebam-no.
the oven	o forno
Open the oven slowly.	Abra o forno devagar.
They made the fish in the oven.	Eles fizeram o peixe no forno.
to taste	provar
The cake is ready. Taste it, please.	O bolo está pronto. Prove-o, por favor.
Taste the wine and the cheese.	Provem o vinho e o queijo.