Beginning 07: How Old Are You?

MP3 Audio (Lesson) | MP3 Audio (Dialog)

Maybe socially we shouldn’t ask everyone their age, but after this lesson we will at least know how to do so, for those occasions when it is OK to ask. While we are at it, this lesson also gives us a nice introduction to the ver TER (to have) vs. ESTAR COM (to be with).

Lesson audio

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Dialog audio

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Dialog
Discussion
 A: Quantos anos você tem Paulo?
How old are you Paulo?
  B: Adivinha.
Take a guess.
  A: 27 ou 29, por aí.
Around 27 or 29.
  B: Acertou, estou com 27 anos.
You got it, I am 27 years old.

3 comments

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  1. Sena Belkayali

    Dear Orlando & Andrea,

    You are great, I am listening your records everyday. Always good to have you two there 🙂

  2. Carmen

    Thank you for a great lesson. I have a couple of questions. A friend from São Paulo told me you don’t say “tenho fome”. Is it more common to say “estou com fome”? Also, isn’t it spelled adivinha? Or can it be spelled both ways?

    1. Orlando Kelm

      OK, tenho vs. estou com… Many times they are interchangeable, but other times there is a subtle difference. For example, “tenho uma camisa azul” might suggest that you have a blue shirt, but maybe it’s in the closet and you aren’t actually wearing it today. “Estou com uma camisa azul”, in this case you definitely wearing the blue shirt. So, “tenho fome” and “estou com fome” work in a similar way. And because we often talk about the hunger that we have at this very moment, indeed “estou com fome” is a great way to express that.
      As to adivinhar, yes, the correct spelling is adivinhar, and my mistake is shared by thousands of Brazilians who also make the same mistake. Nice catch Carmen!