Comments on: Origins of Portuguese Expressions

By: Felipe Mobus

Felipe Mobus — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:04:41 +0000

Regarding the first expression: it should read “lavar a égua”, that is, without “à” (crase). Explanation follows.

The verb “lavar” is a verbo transitivo direto (VTD) and, iirc, as such, allow no preposition before its object. In other words, you would NOT say “lavar ao gato”, because “ao” is the contraction of “a”+”o”(preposition + article). The trick here is changing the object for a masculine object and see if “ao” would happen – if it does, then the original sentence is almost guaranteed to have crase.

There is, however, an exception, where crase would appear after a VTD. A crase would happen if your object is expressing a manner, a fashion (“moda”), in which the verb could be performed or a variation of some substantive. That is, “lavar à égua” would be “lavar à moda da égua”, roughly translatable as “wash (something) the same way a mare would”. An example for substantive would be “bife à milanesa” = “bife à moda milanesa” = “beef prepared in the milanese manner”.

By: Ana

Ana — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:03:32 +0000

I liked your post, though I’d like to make a tiny correction. Where you wrote:
Quando chegar em casa após o trabalho, tenho que fazer o jantar e cuidar dos filhos. Enquanto descansa carrega pedra!
it should read Enquanto descansO, carregO pedra.
The verbs in the sentence must be conjugated according to their subject. One more example:
As mulheres trabalham fora e em casa cuidam dos filhos. Enquanto descansam, carregam pedra.

By: Leonila

Leonila — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:03:26 +0000

Gostei muito dos comentparios sobre nossas expressões.Seu blog é muito bom.

Gosto imensamente do provérbio:
CADA UM NO SEU CANTO CHORA SEU TANTO.

Eu gostaria de comentá-lo, mas não falo ingl~es.

Leonila