Portuguese Grammar You Really Need To Know (Teach Yourself Language)

This book helped me to communicate with some of my friends. It was very easy to use and understand. Good book.

This book does not explain Portuguese grammar to you, throws it at you. The verbs are diabolic. You are told that the present indicative mood has a number of different meanings in English. You are told that "eu falo" can mean I speak, I am speaking, I do speak, I shall speak. If this is the case, surely the reader should be given some guidance on these meanings. No, there is no guidance, which is really missed in a teach yourself grammar. It is also surprising in a book that keeps telling the reader that you are getting lots of helpful advice. Are you? Not really. You may find out that the supposedly helpful advice is wrong. For example the book tells you rather patronizingly not to see the preterit as a frightening array of new forms to learn but to make the patterns shown in the book work for you. Do they? No. Why? Because they are wrong. They tell you that the verb maintains the original letter it had in the infinitive (a/e/i).On the previous page there is evidence to the contrary. For example "falei" and "falou" do not maintain the "a" or "comi" the "e". You don't say "falaei, falaou, comei" (wrong!) for I spoke, you spoke, I ate. In this grammar each page you turn you don't know whether you are going to get the right or the wrong information. I regret buying this book. It was a waste of money.

Two features stand out in this book, overbearingly patronising and poor teaching.The reader is patronised from beginning to end. 'Grammar is nothing to fear', p xii; 'if you are unsure', p viii; 'to ease comprehension', p xi; 'don't lose sleep', p 133; 'it is not surprising that many, if not all learners, throw up their hands in horror', p 225; 'don't be fooled into thinking that...', p 228; 'don't worry', p 257; 'don't be disheartened', p 258.Hard not to be disheartened! The more unsure this book appears to be of what it is saying the heavier the patronising gets and the more the Portuguese grammar is portrayed as un uphill struggle to learn.The introductory pages tell you that the book 'will enable students to establish firm linguistic foundations.' Pitty the book has not got these firm linguistic foundations itself!In the intoduction you also read that linguistic terms are explained in the glossary and you are advised to make the glossary your starting point, especially if you are unsure about terms such as noun, verb, etc. The problem is that the book itself does not appear to be sure about these terms.Modal verbs are defined in the glossary as 'verbs used in conjunction with another verb in order to express a mood'. Next you are told that 'mood' is expressed by the indicative, subjunctive or imperative (not modal verbs). Adding to the confusion, on p 198 you read that some verbs 'are known as modal auxiliaries because they are used in combination with a main verb in the infinitive.'Blurred and incorrect information is everywhere. On p 178, you read that past participles are used as adjectives with verbs 'ser' and 'estar'. Not with verb 'ser'! On p 127, verb 'erguer' is said to be 'irregular' in the first person. An irregular verb is something quite different! On p 177, you read that the gerund is used to convey a follow-on action in the sentence 'Comeram o jantar ouvindo boa musica'. It is not a follow-on action but a simultaneous one!Starting in the introduction, a big issue is made of the differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese, but this is another muddled area. This book appears to think that European Portuguese does not have a word for 'billion' and says 'mil milhoes' instead!, p 79. It also appears to be rather outdated in thinking that in Brazil the written language is more likely to use 'haver' as an auxiliary verb instead of 'ter', p 187.I have lived and worked in Portugal and Brazil. In my work I had to have a good command of the language. Here in Britain I do some teaching. More than once I have been asked what I think of this Portuguese grammar. I'm afraid, not much. I hope that my comments are useful.

This grammar is acceptable if your aim is to learn Continental Portuguese but I cannot reccomend it to anyone who wants to learn Brazilian Portuguese. Buy an excellent MODERN PORTUGUESE grammar written by one of the Brazil's most famous and trusted linguists: Mário Perini instead.

Easy to follow for a beginner like me. Explanations in English are so helpful.

Exelent

Time consuming but well worth it. Really helps as Portuguese grammar is very complicated.

The book arrived in 3 days and as I expected it is an excellent book on Portuguese grammer.