Bom dia, avó
Good Morning, Grandma
Before you read
European Portuguese has two verbs for to be. É describes identity or a lasting quality: o café é pequeno (the café is small). Está describes location or a current state: Sofia está aqui (Sofia is here). Both come from different verbs, ser and estar, and Portuguese always keeps them apart.
Portuguese nouns are masculine or feminine, and the word for the changes to match: o café, o pão are masculine, while a porta, a mesa, a cozinha, a avó, a fotografia are feminine. Adjectives agree too: velho becomes velha, pequeno becomes pequena, next to a feminine word.
Há means there is or there are, and it never changes, whether you are pointing at one door or ten. Há uma mesa (there is a table); há pão e café (there is bread and coffee).
Instead of a label above the words, Portuguese books tuck the speaker right into the sentence: Sofia diz: "Bom dia" means Sofia says, "Good morning." You will see diz again and again from here on, exactly like a real book.
Chapter 1 complete
Keep reading The Little Café in Storyglot.
Continue the story in the app, save useful words, and pick up where you left off.
In the app, choose Portuguese and look for O pequeno café.
