This site uses cookies – small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience. In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymized tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics. As a rule, cookies will make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers.
Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit.
Read the entire privacy policy.
NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.
I’m trying to think of other reasons to use this verb Pifar. I understand that it works with electronic objects and what not and wouldn’t want to say my grandma pifou (went down). But I’m finding it difficult because I feel like saying morrer for these situations. Any other common ways or phrases with this verb? Great lesson!
You can also think of pifar as simply “stopped working” rather than died. In that case, you can follow the logic of “o computador pifou” (the computer stopped working).
Congratulations on these short dialogues – I did not know they existed! Even though I consider myself upper intermediate, it does not hurt to go over the basics, and learn a bit more about contextual use of words and phrases – love it!. It is also teaching me to listen more accurately to the pronunciation. So when I listen to the phrase: Hoje em dia não são muito caros, it sounds like he is saying muito CASAS. Is it me not hearing correctly?
I loved the phrase “não são muito caros” beautiful repetition of nasal sounds. And yes, it was caros and not casas. Thanks for studying these in detail!
I heard k-ah-z, but by pure coincidence only yesterday I saw this clip where the guy from Belo Horizonte explains how in his sotaque “sílabas finais disaparecem” . Here’s the link to the relevant part (but the whole clip is worth watching, he also mention the ways Mineiros use diminutives and “aqui”):
https://youtu.be/DShlDKAwZJI?t=226
So it seems that the speaker in the dialogue dropped the syllable -ro- in caros and [s] became [z] before [a] in acho.
Indeed it is true, Brazilians (all and not just in Minas Gerais) tend to reduce final unstressed vowels, meaning that the whole syllable is reduced. But when you think of it, it’s not so different from the “wachagonnadudaday” that comes from “what are you going to do today.” Now that you’ve heard it, you are going to notice it everywhere!