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Essential Portuguese Grammar
This logical, developmental presentation of the major aspects of Portuguese grammar includes all the necessary tools for speech and comprehension. Designed for adults with limited learning time who wish to acquire the basics of everyday Portuguese, this grammar features numerous shortcuts and time savers. Ideal as an introduction, supplement, or refresher.
122 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1966
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 9, 2021
While I personally found this book useful, I’m skeptical about how helpful it would be for its intended audience (beginners with limited time to study).
I’m fluent in Spanish and studied Portuguese formally for a year, but fell out of practice, and used this book as a refresher. It was useful in this regard, but that knowledge also made me realize how quickly a beginner would be lost reading this. Part of the problem is the layout. Almost from the beginning, the book contains complex sentences in Portuguese, such as on page 17: “Quem pode esquecer o perfume duma rosa?” (Who can forget the fragrance of a rose?) Conversely, basic expressions like “bom dia” (good morning) and “Que horas são?” (what time is it?) don’t appear until page 78.
Another major flaw of this book is that it will often give vocabulary and sentence structures that are specific to either European or Brazilian Portuguese without indicating which region it would be used (or not used) in. Portuguese varies a lot more from region to region than, say, Spanish, to the point that some grammatical structures differ between the two, and it’s really important to be aware of these distinctions.
On the positive side, the book does a lot of things well, such as its charts of irregular verbs, and a simple table explaining grammatical terms that may not be familiar to a layperson.
Just be aware that, if you are approaching this as a beginner, it would only be effective in conjunction with a lot of other material for learning Portuguese.
I’m fluent in Spanish and studied Portuguese formally for a year, but fell out of practice, and used this book as a refresher. It was useful in this regard, but that knowledge also made me realize how quickly a beginner would be lost reading this. Part of the problem is the layout. Almost from the beginning, the book contains complex sentences in Portuguese, such as on page 17: “Quem pode esquecer o perfume duma rosa?” (Who can forget the fragrance of a rose?) Conversely, basic expressions like “bom dia” (good morning) and “Que horas são?” (what time is it?) don’t appear until page 78.
Another major flaw of this book is that it will often give vocabulary and sentence structures that are specific to either European or Brazilian Portuguese without indicating which region it would be used (or not used) in. Portuguese varies a lot more from region to region than, say, Spanish, to the point that some grammatical structures differ between the two, and it’s really important to be aware of these distinctions.
On the positive side, the book does a lot of things well, such as its charts of irregular verbs, and a simple table explaining grammatical terms that may not be familiar to a layperson.
Just be aware that, if you are approaching this as a beginner, it would only be effective in conjunction with a lot of other material for learning Portuguese.
August 26, 2025
Comprehensive, and well laid out. After bouncing around so many online sites trying to learn something, I found this book which presents usage in a concise and direct manner. Just the sort of structure I was looking for. I still use it as a reference book now.
March 31, 2023
Outdated, beware!
June 3, 2017
This is a great reference for Portuguese grammar. My only reasons for not giving it 5 stars are that it is a little dates (published in 1966, and a couple formal changes to the language have occurred since then) and the layout is not as clean as it could be. The latter is more an issue when one is flipping around looking for something - the poor layout makes it easier to miss what you're looking for.
October 27, 2015
Excellent. Short, accurate, well-written and still applicable after all these years. Best value around for studying basic Portuguese grammar.
December 15, 2016
An excellent overview of Portuguese grammar!
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May 4, 2024A great book for learning Portuguese.
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November 21, 2009None
July 4, 2016
Useful
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews