Brazilian Portuguese Grammar

Confusing words
Doubt	Explanation	Example	English
pode or pôde?	**pode is the 3rd person singular of the present indicative of verb poder**	Ela não pode ir à escola.	She can't go to school.
pode or pôde?	**pôde is the 3rd person singular of the perfect indicative of verb poder**	Ela não pôde ir à escola.	She couldn't go to school.
*m or n?*	Always spell m before p and b; use n before other consonants	tempo	time, weather
		cachimbo	pipe
		santo	saint
		vento	wind
A word doesn't have an accent mark. Which syllable gets the stress, the antepenultimate one, the penultimate one or the last one?	The stress falls regularly on the last but one (penultimate) syllable.	pensamentos	thought
		queijo	cheese
	The stress falls on the last syllable if *words end in -i,* -u, -l, -n, -r or -x.**	caqui	persimmon
		Brasil	Brazil
esta or está?	esta => this (demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjective, feminine singular)	Esta casa é velha.	This house is new.
		Esta é minha casa.	This is my house.
	**está => is (the 3rd person singular of the present indicative of verb estar)**	Ele está em São Paulo.	He is in São Paulo.