MP3 Audio (Lesson) | MP3 Audio (Dialog)
More and more Brazilians are traveling abroad, and what an exciting thing it is to see. In today’s lesson our Brazilians are in New York City, and look how fun it is to see the Empire State Building. Of course, we will want to be able to talk about all of this in Portuguese.
| A: | O Marco, em qual portaria a gente entra pro hotel? Marco, which gate do we take to get to the hotel? | |
| B: | É na que fica em frente ao Madison Square Garden. It’s the one in front of Madison Square Garden. | |
| A: | Mas a escada rolante está estragada. But the escalator isn’t working. | |
| B: | É Marilene, mas vamos por aqui mesmo, não temos outra opção. Yes Marilene, but there’s where we go, there is not other way. | |
| A: | Nossa, que beleza! Pertinho do Empire State! Amei! Wow, how gorgeous! Right next to the Empire State Building, I love it! |
Comments are closed.
“É na que fica”. I think I would’ve said just “fica”. I’m sure the way he said it sounds more natural. It’s hard for my American brain to add these extra words ahhhh. Someday I guess.
Also the verb estragar.
You said you hear it mostly for food. But can it be for anytime you “mess something up”. For example can I say “eu estrego meu cabelo”
Or would mexer be better here?
“é na que fica” takes on the added nuance of a comparison with another location. That is to say, “fica” just means “it’s located.” Notice that “é na que fica” (it’s the one that is located) adds the idea that of all the placed to go, this is the one that it want to go to. You are correct, you could use either, but “é na que fica” (it’s the one that is located) adds that sense of comparison.
Estragar, yes, I really do associate this with food that has gone bad. To mess things up, as in to move things around, try using “mexer.” To mess things up, as in to screw up, try using esculhambar.
a escada rolante está “estragada”
Can you use “quebrada” instead ?
Indeed, “quebrada” (broken) would work just fine as well. In fact, the verb “estragar” carries more of the meaning of to go bad. In English we use the verb “to spoil” when we talk of meat going bad. In Portuguese that verb would be “estragar” as well.