Talk about work in Portuguese

In this brief article we will learn the structures we need to give more details about our job. Many things we already know, but it will be new details which can make the difference.

Prepositions

In the previous lesson [artigo 12], you learned that sometimes you must join the preposition “de” and “em” with articles and a few words like: isto, isso e aquilo. Now we will talk about join those prepositions with the indefinite articles “um” and “uma”.

Please, check the logic and the examples:

DE + UM = DUM

DE + UMA = DUMA

A: De onde és? (Where are you from?)

B: Sou dum país muito pequeno. (I am from a very small country.)

A: Onde moras? (Where do you live?)

B: Perto duma escola e dum restaurante. (close to a school and a restaurant)

A: Eu gosto duma amiga da Ana. (I like a friend of Ana)

B: Quem? A Rita? Também gosto dela! (Who? Rita? I like her too!)

EM + UM = NUM

EM + UMA = NUMA

A: Onde estás agora? (Where are you now?)

B: Estou num restaurante, porquê? (I am in a restaurant, why?)

A: Onde estudas português? (Where do you study portuguese?)

B: Numa escola que se chama Caravela. (In a school called Caravela.)

Talking about your job

Now, let’s talk about work. Below, you have what you need to learn to explain what you do at work.

Qual é a tua profissão? (What is your profession/occupation?)

Sou professor. (I am a teacher.)

Sou advogado. (I am a lawyer.)

Onde trabalhas? (Where do you work?)

Trabalho numa escola. (I work in a school.)

Trabalho num escritório. (I work in an office.)

Fica perto da tua casa? (Is it close to your house?)

Não. Fica bastante longe. (No. It’s quite far)

Sim! Fica muito perto da minha casa. (Yes. It’s very close to my house)

Como é o teu horário? (How is your schedule?)

Trabalho oito horas por dia, cinco dias por semana. (I work eight hours a day, five days a week)

Às vezes trabalho à noite. (sometimes I work at night)

As you can see, we use “por dia” and “por semana” as “a day” and “a week”. Also, we use “às vezes” as “sometimes”.

Gostas do teu trabalho? (Do you like your work?)

Gosto muito, mas às vezes é um pouco monótono. Os meus alunos são muito simpáticos e a escola é bastante grande! (I like it very much, but sometimes is a little monotonous. My students are very nice, and the school is quite big!)

Adverbs vs. adjectives

As you can see, the words “muito”, “bastante” am “pouco” should appear after the verb or before the adjective. In this case, they work as adverbs, so we use them in the masculine singular form and never change them.

“Gosto muito” (I like it very much)

“É bastante interessante”. (It is quite interesting)

“Trabalho pouco”. (I work little)

But when you put the words “muito” and “pouco” before a noun, they must agree in gender and number, because they work as adjectives.

Trabalho muitas horas. (I work many hours)

Eu tenho pouco trabalho (I have little work)

Other questions

Falas muitas línguas? (Do you speak many languages?)

Usas muito o computador ou telemóvel no trabalho? (Do you use the computer or phone at work?)

Viajas muito? (Do you travel a lot?)

Ganhas bem? (Do you earn well?)

– Felizmente, ganho muito bem! (Fortunately, I earn very well)

– Infelizmente, ganho pouco. (Unfortunately, I earn little)

By the way, all highlighted verbs above are verbs regular verbs of the first conjugation (ending in -ar).

Conclusion

Well, this is all you need to know to tell your friends what you do and what is like! If you still have any question about this subject, because not all professions are the same, you know where to find us, right?

Do you want to learn more and put your all the knowledge in practice? Do you want to speak Portuguese with Portuguese people? It’s simple: join us!

You can get in touch by visiting one of our schools or online.