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is there a rule for why "leite" is pronounced "leche", or am I just hearing it wrong?
the "t" in leite and many other words are pronounced as an ch sound in english.
Is there a rule for knowing when it does? Like if it's preceded or followed by a certain vowel? Or is it just a matter of memorizing which words make the sound and which don't?
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In most Portuguese dialects, T followed by an I sounds like "tch", and since in those dialects the E at the end of a word sounds like an I as well, you get the same sound.
The "T" change only happens with "i" sounds. Anywhere in the words. (1)
The "D" change (to something like DJ) happens in the same case, for "i" sounds:
The weak "e" gets an "i" sound. It happens when it's at the end of the word and the last syllable is not stressed. (Some other weak "e"s may become "i", like the words beginning in "des": desfazer, desculpa..., but only for some people)
- Leite - Leitch
- Verdade - Verdadji
- Particular - Partchcular
- Medida - Medjida.
A similar behavior rules the "o", which gets "u" sound when it's weak (but it does not affect D or T):
- Culpado - Culpadu
- Pecados - Pecádus
(1) Some northern regions of the country do change the T for some "u" sounds in the end of the words, but it's best to do it only with "e".
It depends on what part of the country you are, the accent is different in each region. In some places people talk "leitch", as you heard, in others they speak "leitê", the last syllable is pronounced stronger.
In Brazilian Portuguese, this is the accent for "ti" and "te". The sounds "de" and "di" have more of a "j" sound. Note: This isn't the same for Português Portugal, where it'll sound like "dia" instead of "jia", or the T is pronounced the same as any other T. Hope this helps!
People here are trying to help you, but let me just simplify it: it doesn't matter if you say 'leitÊ' or 'leiTI' or 'leitchê', the Portuguese speaker will understand you anyway. With experience, you'll become more cofident of you speaking and it'll flow naturally.
There is a problem with que app's sound. It's not pronounced like "leche", its "leite", like you were saying "lay + tea".
Depending the region from Brazil some people would say like "leitch", but it isn't the usual. Because of Brazil's size we have many different accents.
As you say, the pronunciation of word final "te" varies with dialect. You can hear other native speakers saying the word here:
http://www.forvo.com/word/leite/#pt
and the Duolingo voice sounds like the woman called Sirasp (based in SP state according to the map).
What dialect do you consider the "usual" one? I think the Duolingo robot/woman has got a Paulista accent, hasn't she?
My accent is from west of São Paulo state, here it sounds like "leiti". I think it is the most "usual". In south of Brazil, in states as Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, and Santa Catarina (Curitiba is a city, capital of Paraná state, that has the strongest "Ê" in this word) it sounds like "leitÊ", with a strong "e". I have almost never heard this accent with "tche", I think maybe it comes from somewhere of midwest of Brazil. Maybe you would like watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj_buS_MHmo (in portuguese), its about the different Brazilian accents.
Normally it's "leich" (that's what I think Wildley means with "ti", this is generally common in all states of the southeast), here she adds a little "e" sound at the end of the normal speech: "leiche".
So, here we say "leich", and to the south they say "leite", she is like mixing both with "leiche", but it's nothing to worry about in my opinion.
Thank you very much for the interesting information. I watched the video and I didn't hear the Duolingo vesion of "leite". Were you able to listen to the clips on forvo.com? Do any of them sound exactly like your way of saying the word, and which ones do you find unusual? As I said, I think Sirasp sounds like the Duolingo woman, no? (I'm talking about Duolingo's normal speed version, I'm unable to play the slow audio.)
I have listened the clips on fervo.com. FabioR and daltonos sound like the way I say this word. I agree with you, Sirasp sounds exactly like Duolingo's voice. It's hard to say which ones are unusual, because of the great variety of accents, I would say Sirasp and coohrus are the ones that sound me more "strange".
Thank you. I have spent some time in Rio and I thought Duolingo's version wasn't that bad. It must be a combination of what I'm used to hearing and a poor ear for nuance. :-)
There is a huge Brazil out there, I'm also from Brazil, and it's almost perfect.
You only use bebo when it's you who are drinking. Eu bebo água = I drink water. Ele bebe água = He drinks water.
In Portuguese, is it necessary to have an article before the object? I know that in French, you're not allowed to just say "milk," you have to say "some milk."
Some times it is, sometimes it is not. Each case has its own rules.
Normally, no articles mean a general sentence. "Eu bebo leite" = "I drink milk" (I have no problems drinking milk)
And the article identifies an instance: "Eu bebo o leite" = "I drink the milk" (There is "the" milk, probably we are talking about the one that is on the table now, or in the fridge....)
Hello everyone. I am a little confused with when "bebo" should be used and when "bebe" should be used. Please help. Thanks!
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Hello MzDiva242, and welcome to duoLingo!
It is common in many languages that the verb is "conjugated" to agree with the subject that the verb applies to. In Portuguese, this means that the ending of the verb is changed a little to "agree with" the pronoun.
This happens in English, too. For example, you would say "I drink", "You drink", but "She drinks". You would never say "You drinks", right? That's because the verb "to drink" is conjugated as "drink" when the subject pronoun is I/you/we/they, but it's conjugated as "drinks" with the subject pronouns he/she/it.
It's very similar in Portuguese. The verb "beber" (which means to drink) is conjugated as "Eu bebo" (which means "I drink"), "Ela bebe" (She drinks), and there are other conjugations for other subject pronouns "Nós bebemos" (We drink), "Eles bebem" (They drink), etc.
Now, keep in mind that this is present tense -- an action that happens right now, in the present. There are other tenses, too. Things that happen in the past (I drank), the future (I will drink), and on and on. But don't worry about that right now... it'll all fall into place. Learning languages comes pretty naturally for us as humans, it just takes time and practice.
This website will help you with different verbs and conjugations. Try looking up beber on it, and you can see the various ways to talk about drinking!
BTW, make sure and study all the comments in these discussions, you wouldn't believe how useful they can be! Before long you'll be answering questions, too. :-)
Bons estudos! (Good studies!)
Wow! Thank you so much! I understand now.
One other question, if you don't mind...please.
Did you re-test each section repeatedly until you knew the terms, phrases and words by memory; or did you write them down and study them? I am finding that I remember the words and their english translations, but I am not able to form sentences. I guess this will come. I am fairly new so I don't want to beat myself up too tough. I just want to find a system that's effective and efficient.
Thanks again
Crystal
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Hello again, Crystal!
Wow! Thank you so much! I understand now.
Good! I'm glad!
One other question, if you don't mind...please.
Not at all. Questions are how we learn. :-)
I'll address your question on your "activity stream", though, since the moderators would probably prefer keeping these sentence discussion forums limited to the specific sentence for which they exist.
Use "bebe" for "he/she/it drinks" and "you drink"; use "bebo" for "I drink". See: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/1524592
I am a girl so do i say eu bebe or eu bebo? it says bebo but i thought that was masculine?
You say "Eu bebo", for female or male are the same. "Bebe" is used when you are saying about another person. E.g. I drink water, he drinks coffee and she drinks juice (Eu bebo água, ele bebe café e ela bebe suco).
Hello.
The correct is "eu bebo". The conjugation "bebe" is for the third person, like "ele/ela bebe". For verbs, you don't need to care with the genre, just nouns, adjectives and so on.
When saying "Eu bebo leite", eventhough it means "I drink milk", can it also mean "I am drinking milk", or does that mean something else?
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Oi! When you use the Portuguese present tense to say "eu bebo leite" it is essentially the same as the present tense in English. In other words, you are only saying that you drink milk in a general sense, but you aren't making any other assertion, such as, for example, that you're drinking milk at that moment.
If you specifically wanted to say that you are drinking milk at that moment, you would use the Presente contínuo (gerúndio) tense to say "Eu estou bebendo leite".
It is important to not fall into the trap of trying to equate tenses between languages so I also should make note of the fact that the English present progressive tense can be used differently than the Portuguese presente contínuo. In English, when one says "I am drinking milk" it might mean that I'm drinking milk at that moment. But it might also refer to a habitual action, such as, "I'm on a vegan diet, but I'm drinking milk". It could also be used in a future context, for example, "I'm drinking milk tomorrow". The Portuguese gerund isn't used to describe anything beyond what is happening at the moment of speaking, however. (Updated 01-Aug-16 to clean up my rather poor wording in this paragraph)
I hope I've answered your question; let me know if I've missed the mark. Bons estudos!
The Portuguese "gerúndio" can be used with habitual actions. But mostly not for future actions. But sometimes it can, such as in sentences like "estou indo amanhã = I'm going tomorrow".
The simple present, although not commonly, can also have a progressive meaning. But we do prefer using "gerúndio", it's clearer and far more common. Books may use the simple present sometimes.
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Thank you for the correction, Daniel. I apologize for the misleading answer. There's constantly more that must be squeezed into the little gray cells. Feliz ano novo a todos!
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Hello there! The words "bebo" and "bebe" are conjugations of the same verb beber (to drink). There are many better explanations in these comments which address this exact same question. I'm sure some of them will help you out more than anything I could say. In fact, I've found these sentence discussions to be an enormous resource, and they've helped me a lot. Good luck with your studies!
La "t" en portugues suena como una "ch"? Por ejemplo en "leite" se pronuncia "leiche"... Estoy un poco confundida o.o
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only in brazilian portuguese. but in european and african portuguese "t" is almost always pronounced as "t" BP: leɪtʃɘ. EP: lˈɐjtɘ
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I drink= Eu bebo.
He drinks= Ele bebe
She drinks= Ela bebe
We drink= Nós bebemos
They drink= Eles (elas) bebem.
That's much the same as asking why do we say "I drink" and not "I drinks" in English. The form of the verb depends on the subject and tense. If you have the time to read it, perhaps this will help: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/1524592. If not, you can find all the forms of a verb such as "beber" here: http://www.conjuga-me.net/verbo-beber.
It's optional.
In many cases, the personal pronoun is optional. But when the conjugation does not define it clearly, its not a good thing to do, unless the context is really clear.
