Saying what you did yesterday in Brazilian Portuguese

Level A1

Saying what you did yesterday in Brazilian Portuguese

By the end of this lesson you can tell something that is already over: Trabalhei ontem (“I worked yesterday”). You put the verb in the past: trabalhei, morei and fui with eu (“I”), and trabalhou, morou and foi with você (“you”), ele (“he”), ela (“she”) and a gente (“we”). Ontem says when, and each event gets its own sentence.

What you already know

Three verbs come back in this lesson. Trabalho aqui means “I work here” and Moro aqui means “I live here”; with ela and the other people above, the forms are trabalha and mora. Ela mora em Paris means “She lives in Paris”. Ir (“to go”) gives vou and vai: Você vai ao mercado? asks “Are you going to the market?”, and Vou para casa means “I'm going home”. For a plan, vou comes before another verb: Vou trabalhar amanhã (“I'm going to work tomorrow”). Now the same verbs move to the past.

Ontem and three verbs

Ontem means “yesterday”. The stress falls on the first syllable, and the final em is nasal, so listen for it. Trabalhar (“to work”), morar (“to live”) and ir (“to go”) are the dictionary forms of the verbs you will use in the past.

Trabalhei and trabalhou: saying you worked

For something finished, trabalho becomes trabalhei with eu, and trabalha becomes trabalhou with você, ele, ela and a gente. English says “worked” for everyone; Portuguese shows who in the ending. You can usually drop eu, because trabalhei already means “I worked”. Trabalhou is shared, so say who you mean when it isn't clear. Listen to the stress: trabalho leans on ba, while trabalhei and trabalhou lean on the last syllable, and in everyday speech the ou often sounds like a closed o. Ontem can go at the start or the end of the sentence. Em casa means “at home”, and aqui means “here”. To ask, keep the same word order and let your voice rise; there is no word for “did”: Você trabalhou ontem?

Trabalhei / Ela trabalhou ontem / aqui / em casa.

Morei and morou: a time that is over

Morar changes the same way: moro becomes morei, and mora becomes morou, with the stress on the last syllable again. Moro aqui says you live here now; Morei aqui says that time is over and you no longer live here. Living somewhere usually takes longer than a day, so ontem doesn't suit this verb. You can say how long instead: Morei aqui dois anos (“I lived here for two years”), where dois means “two” and anos means “years”. English “I've lived here for two years” usually means you still do; with morei, the two years are over. To say yes, you can repeat the verb and add sim (“yes”): Morei, sim.

Morei / Ela morou aqui / em Paris.

Fui and foi: the whole word changes

Ir doesn't change like trabalhar and morar: vou becomes fui, and vai becomes foi. Listen for the one vowel that keeps them apart. Eu takes fui; você, ele, ela and a gente take foi, as in A gente foi para casa (“We went home”). What comes after stays as you know it: ao mercado, para casa. Ao joins a (“to”) and o (“the”). You will also meet fui and foi as the past of another verb, ser (“to be”), but in this lesson they always mean “went”.

Fui / Ela foi ao mercado / para casa.

One sentence for each event

In this lesson, each thing that happened gets its own short sentence with its own verb. Say them in the order they happened: Ontem trabalhei em casa. Fui ao mercado. Fui para casa. Ontem appears once and still covers the sentences after it. Joining events inside one sentence comes in later lessons.

One verb, three moments

These three sentences are only for listening. Trabalhei ontem looks back, Trabalho hoje (“I work today”) stays in the present, and Vou trabalhar amanhã looks ahead. Hoje means “today” and amanhã means “tomorrow”. Notice how the same verb changes; you don't need to produce the set.

Two colleagues talk about yesterday

Trabalhei, sim and Fui, sim both answer “Yes, I did”: each one repeats the verb and adds sim. A says Eu trabalhei aqui and keeps eu to set A's day against B's, because B worked at home. Listen once, then cover B's lines and say them yourself.

Your turn

Try these before you look at the sentences below. Say that yesterday you went to the market, starting with Ontem… Say that she went home. Say that you lived here for two years. Ask a friend if they worked yesterday. Then listen and compare.

What to remember

To tell something finished, put the verb in the past and give each event its own sentence. With eu: trabalhei, morei, fui. With você, ele, ela and a gente: trabalhou, morou, foi. Ontem says when, at the start or the end of the sentence. Morar doesn't suit ontem; you can say how long instead.

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