Beginning 11: I’d Rather Walk

MP3 Audio (Lesson) | MP3 Audio (Dialog)

So, should we walk or take a taxi? On one hand, plan on walking more in Brazil. On the other hand, taxi are not every expensive, especially with a small group of people. In today’s lesson we talk about walking and taking a taxi. And, it is a good chance to introduce you to the verb preferir ‘to prefer’ too.

Lesson audio

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Dialog audio

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Dialog
Discussion
 A: A gente chama um táxi?
Should we call a taxi?
  B: Não, eu prefiro andar.
No, I’d rather walk.
  A: Mas é muito longe.
But it’s really far.
  B: Tá bom, pode chamar então.
OK, you can call a taxi then.
  :

4 comments

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  1. Sarah

    Do you know if people in Portugal use “a gente” for “we”, or is it just in Brazil?

    Side note: I think this is similar to the French “on” (literally, the first person neuter “one” in English), which is commonly used for “we”, in place of “nous”.

    1. Orlando Kelm

      Indeed, you can use “a gente” in either Brazil or Portugal. I do have a sense that it is used in Brazil even more than in Portugal, but that might be because of my familiarity with Brazilian Portuguese more than with Continental Portuguese.
      The whole “one knows, you know, they know, we know” is pretty flexible in many languages, and the French “on” is another good example of that.

  2. Craig

    “Tá bom, pode chamar então.”

    In this dialog, couldn’t this also be translated as “Ok, we can call a taxi then.”

    (a gente) pode…

    1. Orlando Kelm

      Indeed, in fact, you’ll notice that the first line of the dialog is “a gente chama um táxi.” This is similar to what we do in English when we flip flop on “they say, you say, one says” and all are interchangeable.

  3. Amy

    Which one is correct? ‘Tenho um livro chamando “A Casa”,’ or ‘Tenho um livro chamado “A Casa”?’

    1. Orlando Kelm

      Chamando = calling, Chamado = called, so you want livro chamado in this case.

      1. Amy

        Thank you so much. So it is the same as in English! What a good thing, don’t you think? Sorry, my internet got so problem. I just realized I asked the same question many many times. ;_;

        1. Orlando Kelm

          No problem Amy, happy to help out. I assume since your email included “qq” that you are in China maybe? Boa sorte.