Explaining two sources in Portuguese: agreeing, differing and summing up

Level B2

Explaining two sources in Portuguese: agreeing, differing and summing up

Someone asks you what two texts say about the same question, and the texts don't quite agree. Here a daughter explains a university study and a magazine article about coffee to her mother, who has high blood pressure. By the end, you can say what two sources have in common and where they differ, turn a technical term into plain words, and close with a short summary that says which source says what, without adding anything the sources don't say.

Four tools you already know

Four things from earlier lessons come back here. Segundo names the source of a claim: “Segundo a associação de comerciantes, as vendas da avenida caíram dez por cento.” Quer dizer que checks or gives a meaning, and ponto em comum is the point two sides share: “O ponto em comum entre eles é o apoio a um horário maior para a biblioteca; isso não quer dizer que todos aprovem um teste.”

The fourth tool is clear reference: when ela or as duas could point to two things, repeat the noun. In this lesson, the two things are the study and the magazine: os dois, or as duas fontes when the listener could lose track.

Words for the topic

The two sources: a study and a magazine

Read the six sentences as the mother would receive them: three from the study, three from the magazine. The study speaks like a report: consumo moderado is moderate consumption, até quatro xícaras is up to four cups, associado a is associated with, cautela is caution, and quem já tem pressão alta is people who already have high blood pressure. The magazine speaks like a friend: café demais is too much coffee, atrapalha o sono is disturbs your sleep, no máximo is at most, and a matéria is the article. Xícara is any small cup for hot drinks, coffee included.

You only need to read these; the lesson teaches how to explain them. Notice that the study gives numbers and a method (dez mil adultos, cinco anos), while the magazine quotes one person.

Model: coffee, Mom, and two texts

The mother (a) has read the magazine; the daughter (b) has sent her the study. Afinal is in the end, mandou is sent, and tomar três is drink three. Listen for the order the daughter follows: first what the two agree on, then a technical term made plain, then where they differ, and twice a refusal to say more than the sources say: “Aí o estudo pede cautela, mas não diz quantas xícaras.” She never invents the answer her mother wants; she sends her to the doctor. She also selects: the method and the nutritionist stay out, because her mother needs the amount, not how the study was done.

Words for explaining two sources

What they agree on: os dois concordam que, tanto… quanto

Start with the common point: it reassures the listener and shows you read both. Os dois concordam que introduces it: “Os dois concordam que exagerar no café faz mal.” With two sources named, Brazilians also say as duas fontes concordam or tanto o estudo quanto a revista dizem que: “Tanto o estudo quanto a revista dizem que a quantidade importa.”

Here tanto… quanto joins two subjects, so the verb is plural (dizem, falam). Don't confuse it with tão… quanto, which compares a quality (tão alto quanto). After concordam que, the common point is a full clause; after concordam num ponto, you give it after a colon. Os dois is masculine because it covers one masculine noun and one feminine one (o estudo, a revista); with fontes it is as duas.

Os dois / As duas fontes / Tanto X quanto Y concordam que / dizem que o ponto em comum

Where they differ: já at the start of the clause

To turn to the other source, Brazilian Portuguese opens the clause with já, right before the subject: “Já a revista recomenda no máximo duas xícaras por dia.” English says as for the magazine, or more often the magazine, on the other hand. This já means a contrast, not already: compare quem já tem pressão alta in the study, where já sits next to the verb and does mean already.

The já clause usually comes second, after what the first source says: “O estudo não fala de sono; já a revista fala bastante.”

O que a fonte 1 diz; já a fonte 2 o que ela diz

Both in one sentence: enquanto…, …

Enquanto puts the two positions in one sentence, the first source in the enquanto clause: “Enquanto o estudo fala em quatro xícaras, a revista fala em duas.” In this use there is no idea of time; the same word also means while in time (enquanto eu embalava), and only the context tells them apart. Falar em is the ordinary verb for a source giving a figure.

To name the point of disagreement itself, use divergir: “Onde as duas fontes divergem é na quantidade, não no risco.” Say as duas fontes, not as duas, when the listener could not tell what the two are.

Enquanto a fonte 1 diz X, a fonte 2 diz Y

The term in plain words: ou seja, em outras palavras

A technical term is kept and then explained: the term first, a comma, then ou seja and the plain version: “Risco cardiovascular, ou seja, risco de problema de coração.” Em outras palavras does the same job, usually for a whole idea: “Em outras palavras, a diferença entre as duas fontes é a quantidade.” One more way: o que o estudo considera X é… gives the source's own definition.

The explanation changes the words, not the content: don't turn não está associado a maior risco into não fazem mal, which says more than the study; the daughter says não trazem mais risco pro coração, which keeps the limit.

termo da fonte, ou seja, a mesma coisa em palavras simples

What the sources don't say

The hardest part of explaining sources is stopping where they stop. When the question goes beyond them, say so and name which source is silent: “Sobre sono, o estudo não diz nada.” Both silent: “Pra quem tem pressão alta, nenhuma das duas fontes responde.” Then send the listener to someone who can answer. And when you simplify, keep the numbers and the conditions as they were: “Mudei as palavras, não os números.”

These sentences are here to recognize the attitude, not to drill: the practice never asks them.

The summary with attribution: resumindo, segundo…, já…

Close with a short summary where each piece of information carries its source. Resumindo opens it; segundo names the first source; já turns to the second; os dois concordam que ends on the common point: “Resumindo: segundo o estudo, até quatro xícaras por dia não trazem mais risco pro coração; já a revista recomenda no máximo duas, por causa do sono e da pressão. Os dois concordam que exagerar faz mal.” A shorter form keeps only the agreement and the difference: “Resumindo, as duas fontes concordam que a quantidade importa; a diferença é o limite.”

Resumindo o que a revista diz is the same verb resumir in its ordinary use: summing up one source, faithfully: “no máximo duas xícaras, e nenhuma depois das quatro.”

Resumindo: segundo a fonte 1, o que ela diz; já a fonte 2 o que ela diz. Os dois concordam que o ponto em comum

Your turn: explain the two texts to your brother

Your brother drinks coffee all day and asks what the two texts say. Before reading, try to say it in Portuguese: what the two agree on; what the study considers moderate; what the magazine recommends, opening with já; and a one-line summary of agreement and difference. Then check your sentences against the four below, in the same order, and listen to each one. Use only what the sources say.

Summary: agree, reword, differ, sum up

To explain two sources to someone else: first what they share (os dois concordam que…, tanto… quanto…), then each technical term in plain words (ou seja…, em outras palavras…), then where they differ (já… at the start of the clause, or enquanto…, … in one sentence), and a closing summary in which every piece of information names its source (resumindo: segundo…; já…). Change the words, never the numbers, and stop where the sources stop.

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