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What’s the difference between “na” and “em”? How to use them ?
Ah yes, those pesky contractions: no, na, nos, nas. Na is a contraction for “in the”: em + a = na. We see this in na casa = in the house, na cozinha = in the kitchen. Notice similarly with masculine word: em + o = no, as in no livro = in the book, no carro = in the car. And we see the same pattern with plural nouns em + os = nos, em + as = nas: nas casas – in the houses, nas cozinhas – in the kitchens, nos livros – in the books, nos carros – in the cars.
Oi professor Orlando, tenho duas perguntas…
1. “E a carteira, não tô vendo ela?” In the audio I did not hear ela. Does that mean it can be omitted in this context?
2. “Você deixou em cima da mesa na cozinha.” Is the word ela omitted between deixou and em?
Obrigada!
It’s always fun to hear Brazilians when they talk in English. They say things like “I like.” or “I buy.” The word “it” just drops out because it is optional in Portuguese.
I have a question about the sentence. “E a carteira, não tô vendo ela?”
I understand that “tô” is short for estou, but why is it spelled with a hat, instead of “tou”? Is this a common spelling used in the written language? Thanks! I really enjoyed all the podcasts.
Hi Shengyu, nice question, and super relevant. OK, the hat shaped accent mark (ô) is used in Portuguese to indicate a closed sound: avô, vovô. The ô sound is very similar to other words that are spelled with “ou” (estou, sou, vou). It is for this reason that in slang and informal speech, we frequently see “estou” shortened to “tou” or “tô”. Excellent observation Shengyu.
Orlando