Breakdown of Sei falar português e inglês.
e
and
português
Portuguese
inglês
English
falar
to speak
saber
to know
Questions & Answers about Sei falar português e inglês.
Why is 'Sei' translated as 'I can' instead of 'I know'?
The word Sei comes from the verb saber (to know). In Portuguese, when you want to express a learned skill or ability, like speaking a language or swimming, you use saber. You do not use poder (which means 'can' in the sense of having permission or physical ability). Therefore, sei falar literally means 'I know how to speak', which translates naturally as 'I can speak'.
Are the words 'I' or 'eu' missing from this sentence?
They are not missing, just built into the verb! In Portuguese, the ending of the verb usually tells you exactly who is doing the action. Because sei is specifically the 'I' form of the verb, adding the pronoun eu (I) at the beginning is optional. It is very natural to just start the sentence with Sei.
Why aren't the languages 'português' and 'inglês' capitalized?
Unlike in English, Portuguese does not capitalize the names of languages, nationalities, months, or days of the week. They are only capitalized if they are the very first word in a sentence. That is why you see português and inglês written in lowercase here.
Why does 'falar' stay in its dictionary form?
When you use two verbs together like this, the first verb takes the ending for the person doing the action (here, sei for 'I know'), and the second verb stays in its basic, unchanged dictionary form, which is called the infinitive. So falar remains exactly as it is, meaning 'to speak'.
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