OCCASIONAL STUFF

Over these last months there have been students going over some “health” vocabulary and somebody asked me about the word “crise de alguma doença”. Well, you can use the word 'episode' such as in “hypomanic episode” or “manic episode”, but episode is more related to psychological disorders. If you have one “acesso de tosse”for example, you have to say “a bout of cough” yes, “bout” (acesso).

George asked me some days ago if I can say “invite someone over”, once you can “have people over” or people can “come over” (to visit you). Actually, if you request someone to come to your place (house) for something such as a meal, party, chat, chimarrão, etc. You might want to use it: “I'll invite Glória and Flávio over for dinner tonight”.

Saionara asked me something like “pai bobão” and I can tell you I couldn't find anything that would exactly match in English, but a close expression would be “to play the fool”: "Garth is always playing the fool when his little kid is around.” In case anyone knows something closer to “pai bobão”, please drop some lines in the comments.

Difference between “few” and “a few”. Use a few when the situation is more satisfactory: “A few guests came over but the party was really cool, though.” When you say “few” have in mind that it may not be so satisfactory: “Few people make a stand against criminality in the Congress.”

Finally, let's translate the sentence: “O motorista parou no acostamento e tirou uma soneca rápida.” “The driver pulled over to the breakdown lane and took a quick nap.”

That's all for now. Don't forget to keep in touch with the grammar, the listening activities and other cool stuffs on the sites right on the left menu.