AboutJames Rezende Piton Expertise Feel free to ask about the grammar and history of the international auxiliary language Esperanto and also about my mother tongue, Portuguese. I can provide some translation from that languages to English or French.
Experience I speak Esperanto since 1988 and I write and publish articles, I regularly translate into and from that language and I use it also at familiar level, with my bilingual children. My mother tongue I speak since... ever! ;-)
Organizations World Esperanto Association
Publications "Esperanto", "Brazila Esperantisto", "La Lampiro", "La Verda Lupeo", "Hirundo Esperantista"
Education/Credentials Applied and Computing Mathematics (1993), Data Processing (1987).
Question Hi James.
1. Is that true that Portuguese people often repeat "Nao" after verb when they express commands, i.e. "Nao minta, nao!", while Brazilian people often remove "Nao" before the verb, i.e. "Minta, nao!"
2. Can you give me a brief explanation about how to express the adverb of manner? i.e. "She eats her bread slowly."
Obrigado.
Answer Hi again, Joe
1. Yes, but also in Brazil we say "Não é verdade, não", with an additional ending "não" to emphasize "It's really not true". Short phrases like "É verdade, não" are often in regional sayings, specially in North/Northeast Brazil, with their characteristic accents.
2. The most common ending for many adverbs deriving from adjectives is often "-mente", as you probably noticed. So, as "lento" (or "lenta", fem.) stands for "slow", "lentamente" is a possible word for "slowly". "Rápido/rápida" for the adjective "fast" becomes "rapidamente" (without an acute over the a) as an adverb. As in English, some adverbs can have the same form of the corresponding adjective: "Ela chegou rápido" (not "rápida"!) or "Ela chegou rapidamente", both stand for "She arrived fast". The adverbe for "slowly" is "devagar" - in the example you chose: "Ela come o (seu) pão devagar" but it could be also "Ela come o (seu) pão lentamente". (the "seu" for "her (bread)" is normally omitted).
