A New, Practical and Easy Method of Learning the Portuguese Language — Franz Ahn
A NEW PRACTICAL AND EASY METHOD OF LEARNING THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : A new, practical and easy method of learning the Portuguese language Author : F. Ahn Release date : October 11, 2024 [eBook #74563] Language : English Original publication : London: Franz Thimm, 1857 Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74563 Credits : The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF AFTER THE SYSTEM OF F. AHN , DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND PROFESSOR AT THE COLLEGE OF NEUSS. LONDON: FRANZ THIMM, FOREIGN PUBLISHER, 3 BROOK STREET, GROSVENOR SQUARE. W. 1857. PREFACE. PREFACE. “ Learn a foreign language as you learned your mother-tongue. ” It is the way that nature herself follows, it is the same which the mother points out in speaking to her child, repeating to it a hundred times the same words, combining them imperceptibly and succeeding in this way in making it speak the same language she speaks. To learn in this manner is no longer a study, it is an amusement. This is in a few words the Method which Prof. Ahn has so successfully adopted in his continental Grammars. The Editor of this Grammar has followed the rational System, which has already procured for Prof. Ahn a European reputation, and he has adopted it for the Study of the Portuguese Language. He is greatly indebted to the excellent Grammars by Bösche , Müller , etc., which he has used for the ground work of this Grammar and it is hoped that its simplicity and utility will procure for it that favour, which the German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and Latin Grammars of Prof. Ahn have already found in the Colleges and Schools of England. The Editor. The Copyright for England, France and Germany is secured. INDEX. INDEX. FIRST COURSE. Page The Pronunciation 1 PART I. Declension of the definite Article 7 Declension of the indefinite Article 8 Contractions of the Article with the Prepositions 9 On the Gender 10 Masculine 10 Feminine Substantive 11 Formation of the Plural 14 Declension of Substantives 18 The Adjective 20 The Plural of Adjectives 21 The Comparison of Adjectives 23 Irregular Comparisons 24 Declension of the Adjective 24 The Numbers 26 1. The Cardinal Numbers 26 2. The Ordinal Numbers 27 3. Fractional Numbers 27 4. Proportional Numbers 28 5. Collective Numbers 28 Pronouns 30 1. Personal Pronouns 30 2. Conjunctive Pronouns 31 3. Mixed Pronouns 31 4. Possessive Pronouns 33 5. Demonstrative Pronouns 34 6. Relative Pronouns 35 7. Interrogative Pronouns 36 8. Indefinite Pronouns 37 PART II. Collection of Words 41 Easy Dialogues 47 SECOND COURSE. Verbs 58 The Auxiliary Verbs 58 The Regular Verbs 69 Active Verbs 69 The Passive Verbs 79 The Neuter Verbs 79 The Reflective Verbs 80 Irregular Verbs 84 Impersonal Verbs 107 Adverbs 108 1. Adverbs of Time 108 2. Adverbs of Place 108 3. Adverbs of Number and Comparison 108 4. Adverbs of Manner and Kind 109 5. Adverbs of Affirmation and Negation 109 Prepositions 111 Conjunctions 113 Interjections 114 Reading Lessons 115 Idiomatic Expressions with Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions etc. 121 FIRST COURSE. FIRST COURSE. The Pronunciation. 1. The Alphabet. The Portuguese Alphabet is composed of the 25 following letters: pronounced pronounced a ah n ennay b bay o o c say p pay d day q kay e ai r erray f effay s essay g jay t tay h aghah u oo i ee v vay j dshod x shees k kah y ypsilon l ellay z zea m emmay There are six vowels: a , e , i , o , u and y , the rest are consonants. 2. The Accent. The Portuguese language has several accents: the ʹ acute accent, the ^ circumflex accent, the ~ hyphen, called til , is set over some letters as a substitute for m , as: lã for lam bẽ for bem huã for huam . 3. The Vowels. A 1. is pronounced like the a in the English word path , when it has the acute accent ´: chá , tea dá , he gives lá , there. 2. is it pronounced short and clear like the a in father : capitão , the captain (first a), or if found before the double consonants: cc , ll , mm , nn , pp , ss , tt , as: acclamar , to call out annullar , to annull alludir , to allude appellar , to appeal. 3. it has a soft and aspirated sound at the end of words if not accentuated: vergonha , the shame. If the hyphen ~ til stands over the a it takes a nasal sound: irmãa (pr. irmāng), the sister lã (pr. lāng), the world. E has three sounds: 1. open but short like ai in the English word hail , when with the acute accent ´ as: pé , foot fé , belief sé , or in: mel , honey he , he is quero (pr. kayro), I will, or in those verbs ending in er : conhecer , to know receber , to receive. 2. long, when with the circumflex ^ over it, as: lê , he reads vê , he sees rêde , the net. 3. It is almost mute at the end of words without the accent, as: liberdade , liberty amizade , friendship. I is pronounced like e in the English word me , and it is only the accent that determines the pronunciation, as: tímido , timoré , difficil , javalí . O has three sounds: 1. clear and strong in: mólho , dó . 2. soft and long in: bôlo , cake gôrdo , fat rapôsa , the fox (fem.). 3. quite short, almost like oo in: poder , to be able molho , a bundle almost pronounced like molyou . U is pronounced like the oo in the word wood , but the pronunciation depends much upon the length of the syllables, f. i. in túmulo , the grave, the first u is long, the second is short. If provided with the til ~ and before m and n it takes the nasal sound. If it follows after g and q , it is either aspirated, or it is quite mute, as: guerra (gerrah), war quero (kayro), I will quieto (key-eh-to), quite. In qual , it is slightly sounded to distinguish