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- Topic: Portuguese >
- "Eu gosto de bife com massa."
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2743
Hi eeast! The words are similar, so it is going to cause lots of confusion. The Portuguese word "bife" means steak--it is a cut of meat, while the English word "beef" refers to meat that come from cows, and it doesn't specify a cut of meat.
Steak
-- bife
Beef
-- carne bovina
I hope this helps. =)
A good site I found to help me practice portuguese pronunciation is ielanguages.com/portuguese.html Hope this helps you!
Actually, "steak" and "beefsteak" should both be correct, but I think "beef" is still wrong. Here's why:
According to Wordreference, "beef" is called "carne de boi" in Portuguese. Even though the English word "steak," when unqualified, is typically assumed to refer to "beefsteak," the word "steak" also refers generally to "a cut of meat or fish cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers, or of fish cut perpendicular to the spine" or to "meat cooked in sauce" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak).
From what I found on Wordreference.com, it appears that "[o] bife" means about the same thing as "steak" in English. For example, the "bife com massa" sounds like it might be similar to Salisbury steak, or meat cooked in creamy sauce which is commonly served with pasta. In Portuguese, it is occasionally possible to refer to the steak of an animal that is not a cow by qualifying the word "bife," but usually not. For example, "ham steak" is usually "presunto" or sometimes "bife de presunto," whereas "fish steak" is "filé".
I am not a native Portuguese speaker, so if someone with a better grasp of Portuguese - especially a native speaker - has anything to add, improve, or correct, I would be glad to hear about it.
2743
That's about right. Bife refers to steak, whereas "beef" doesn't necessarily refer to steak. It refers to carne de vaca or carne de boi (carne bovina, actually). Which is the type of meat, and the meat origin, but not the specific cut of meat. Bife is a cut of the cow's meat. A steak. It sounds so similar that it is understandable that people get confused.
2743
I'm Brazilian, SilemOchoa! I usually recommend media instead of websites to complement Duo. Writing down lyrics and learning to sing in Portuguese is a great way to go... and the important trick is to only look up the official lyrics to the song once you can sing it all the way through without looking at your notes. It helped me a lot when learning English, along with a couple of other things. Good luck! =]
2743
Hi louwizz1600. Massa is a correct translation for pasta, although it also means dough. For example, in recipe books and menus, you will see noodles (which includes spaghetti, macaroni, penne), lasagnas, gnocchi, etc. listed under "massas". "Macarrão" is more commonly used, but technically it means "noodles". That doesn't mean it shouldn't be accepted. Did you try to make that suggestion to Duolingo?
2743
I've learned that they do that in England too! When they have "tea" in the evening, it usually means dinner, not just a cup of tea with cookies. Suddenly the sentence "will you be home for tea?" makes sense because they drink regular tea all the time. Correct me if I'm wrong, Brits! =]
That's correct, although it's more common to call dinner 'tea' in some parts of the country than it is in others.
I don't know why it's called that, but here is my best guess. Traditionally some social groups had a 'tea time' in the afternoon, around 4 p.m. which was the point between lunch and dinner when they would stop for a drink of tea and biscuits. The evening meal was dinner, or supper, supper generally applying to a later meal. As people worked longer hours eating as late as 8pm was normal, but as society changed and shorter working days, ending at 5pm became normal people started to eat their meal earlier, closer to 'tea time'. Hence my theory as to how 'dinner' became 'tea'.
I'm from the midlands, as a child we had breakfast, dinner and tea. In that order. Supper was occasional and just before bedtime. I can't recall when I became aware that lunch existed, and when I started referring to evening meal as dinner.
I clearly remember erupting into our home with "Mum, what's for tea" after school!
2743
Hello Saidaspen! gian.incha is correct. Emphasis on bold syllable:
Massa
= MÁ-ssa (like the "pah" sound in "pasta")
Maçã
= mah-SUNG ("ã" sounds a bit like "uh...", and try to keep the G down)
gian.incha, try ctrl+,+c or alt+c for ç. =)
Somewhere else in DL massa pops as mass, not pasta. I think it's in food. It's to reinforce the understanding of the two completely different meanings. (possibly two different origins of one orthograph ?)
2743
You do need the "de" after the verb "gostar". Think of how in English we often need the "to" after the verb to listen. I hope it helps! =]