Giving a presentation and answering questions in Portuguese

Level B2

Giving a presentation and answering questions in Portuguese

At a library meeting, you compare two opening schedules and respond to questions from the audience. You will give listeners a clear route through your talk, make one point concrete and explain the limits of your answer. The figures here are fictional practice material.

Words for the meeting

A pesquisa is a survey here, not a scientific study; os dados are the recorded facts or figures.

Recover four tools

Por um lado… por outro lado… presents two sides, not necessarily a disagreement. Certeza is certainty; com certeza expresses a strong commitment, while ainda não sabemos means we do not yet know. Então can resume what someone has said: “Então, o sábado é…?”

Keep a source’s numbers and conditions when you explain it to others: twelve out of twenty is not the whole city. These familiar tools now serve a spoken presentation and its questions.

Your source: two schedules and one survey

Read the two information cards; you do not need to reproduce their wording. Horário atual means current opening time, proposta proposal, sexta à noite Friday evening and sábado de manhã Saturday morning; leitores are readers. Doze de vinte is twelve out of twenty, de segunda a sexta Monday to Friday, and ainda sem comparação not yet compared. The survey reports that those twelve prefer Saturday and work on weekdays; it does not report their reason or any costs.

Model: one connected talk

Listen to the five lines as one person’s talk, with a short pause between stages. Comparo means I compare, mostro I show, esses doze those twelve, pequena small, resposta answer and toda a cidade the whole city. Proponho is I propose; teste de um mês a one-month trial; antes de uma decisão permanente before a permanent decision.

The speaker keeps the existing schedule on one side and the survey preference on the other, gives a concrete case and proposes a limited trial. Working on weekdays makes the case understandable, but it does not prove why the readers prefer Saturday or that Saturday is best.

Make the route audible

Para começar opens the subject, em seguida moves to the next stage and por fim introduces the last point; here that is the proposal. These expressions organize the talk, rather than describe when the library opens. In Portuguese, comparo, mostro and proponho already identify I: you can omit eu here. The template’s assunto, desenvolvimento and conclusão mean subject, development and conclusion; replace them with real content, not just section names.

Para começar, o assunto. Em seguida, o desenvolvimento. Por fim, a conclusão.

Give an example that supports the point

Mostro um exemplo means I give or show an example; the example then supplies a concrete case. You can also introduce the same case with por exemplo, meaning for example. Here esses doze points back to the twelve who prefer Saturday, so the listener can connect their working week with the question about opening hours. Do not add “because they cannot come on Friday”: the source does not say that.

Mostro um exemplo: o exemplo.

Two questions from the audience

Speaker a asks, and b is the presenter. Qual é o custo desse teste? asks the cost of that trial; quanto à pergunta sobre o custo resumes that topic, not a quantity. Valor total is total amount, melhor opção best option, disponíveis available, and não posso dizer isso I cannot say that.

The second question turns a survey preference into certainty; the presenter rejects that step without dismissing the question. Listen to the rising question and the answer: Portuguese does not need English do-support or a special question order here.

Answer the topic and name the limit

Quanto à pergunta sobre… is followed by a noun phrase: o custo, for example; à combines a with the article a in a pergunta. With these examples, use three steps: name the question, say what the data allow and name what is missing. “Com os dados disponíveis, não posso dizer isso” limits the claim; it does not mean the proposal is false.

“Para responder com mais certeza, precisamos comparar os custos dos dois horários” adds the missing comparison: to answer with more certainty, we need to compare both schedules’ costs. Precisamos + infinitive means we need to do something; dos is de + os. That comparison would help with cost, without by itself settling every criterion of the best option.

Quanto à pergunta sobre o assunto, a resposta.

Guided rehearsal: speak before checking

Using only the two source cards, give a 60–90 second talk: identify the schedules, mark the three stages, include the twelve readers as an example and close with a limited proposal. Then answer the two audience questions aloud, naming the unknown cost and the missing comparison. The six lines below are checkpoints, not a script you must copy.

Optional visual aid: write just three cues—horários, exemplo, proposta—on paper; then close the explanations and speak. A slide or a list supports your oral explanation but cannot replace it; no recording feature is needed.

New situation: the preference changes

Read this new information card for recognition. Outra biblioteca means another library, and quinze is fifteen. The current and proposed schedules have swapped, and fifteen readers prefer Friday evening; the source gives no information about their jobs or reasons. Costs are still unexamined.

Transfer: adapt the talk and take a new question

Present the new case aloud in 60–90 seconds, using para começar, em seguida and por fim, and one example introduced with por exemplo or mostro um exemplo. The fifteen readers’ stated preference can be your example; do not copy the earlier weekday-work detail. Then answer “Qual é o custo desse teste?” and a partner’s new question about the evidence; alone, ask yourself whether the survey settles the best schedule.

Check: did you preserve fifteen out of twenty, explain the new Friday preference and admit that the costs are unknown? A successful response identifies what is known and what is missing; it need not recommend the same trial or reach the same conclusion as the model.

Keep the listener oriented

“Para começar… em seguida… por fim…” provides a route; “mostro um exemplo” or “por exemplo” makes a point concrete. “Quanto à pergunta sobre…” brings the answer back to the audience’s topic. “Com os dados disponíveis…” sets a boundary, and “precisamos comparar…” names a useful next step: clear speech can include a clear limit.

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