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- Topic: Portuguese >
- "Um rato"
23 Comments
In Portugal a mouse is a "rato (pequeno)", in Brazil it is a "camundongo".
And in Ceará (Brazil) we often use the word "catita" instead of camundongo. I think it's just a slang or idk but that's it!
I see you are studying Spanish, so here is a tip: any time where you would need to roll your r's if in Spanish ('rr' or r at the beginning of the word) give it an H sound in portuguese.
Yes, when it is at the beginning of a word. There are other ways to pronounce R, some of them depend on the region..http://www.duolingo.com/comment/486296
Rat=ratazana/rato. Mouse=camundongo. In Brazil you can say 'rato' is more comum.
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If I had to guess what 'rato' meant, I would have said rat as opposed to mouse. How do they say rat in Portuguese? When hovering over the word rato, it gives the option for both rat and mouse.
Rat is usually referred to ratazana... but its sometimes translated as rato too... mouse is also related to "camundongo"
I have asked the same question before. In another round RATO was translated to mean RAT. And now it is also a MOUSE ??? How do you know when RATO means rat or a mouse ??? Its very confusing.
Mouse = camundongo and rat = rato where I come from (São Paulo state of Brazil). To me, the duolingo answer is wrong :)
Not wrong, just European vs American.....I get that all the time with English! ;)
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True, but in this case (look at the flag!) we're learning Brazilian Portuguese :) Personally, I don't mind having EP words on Duo as well, BUT they should be indicated as such and with an actual correct/clear BP word in the answer. The 'rato' thing confused me for a while (I got nicknamed 'mouse' by some friends, but that translates weirdly if you only know rato...).
Why is th "r" sound like a "h" i thought it sounds like that if there are two r's.
If there are two r's within the word or if there is a single "r" as the first letter then it sounds like an "h."
In Manaus where I lived for a while rato=rat and catito=mouse. Maybe common iseage has changed since I lived there or maybe there's quite a bit of regional variation.
It is almost like, "hat-u" rather than gato (which is cat coincidentally). In Portugal the "r" is not quite as "h" and more like the French "r" instead – and for the double "r" in Portugal there is a French "r' followed by the "h" sound, so two sounds... but there is no sound for the actual "h", as in "Hugo" (U-go) :D.
Here, this may help (how to pronounce "R"):
