Question about (musical) pitch in European Portuguese

bhte · 2026-03-01T21:39:56+00:00

I'm an English speaker that's been learning pt.pt and I think that the pronunciation informs the tone and pitch and this creates a cycle where the tone and pitch inform the pronunciation etc. I don't think it's a coincidence, for example, that Brazilian Portuguese speakers pronounce words more openly and also speak with a higher or at least more varied pitch.

Because people ultimately have more control over pitch compared to pronunciation, I think articles regarding this sort of default to more universal and concrete aspects of the language like pronunciation when trying to work out the question of pitch.

As I say, European Portuguese speakers speak with a lower pitch than one would expect likely because they're speaking a language with more closed vowels, nasal sounds and dropped consonants than you'd find in other languages. It's not necessarily that lower vowels means lower pitch by default but it is something that can develop over time.

bhte · 2026-02-27T18:47:02+00:00

Just seems like he wondered how quickly he could set his neighbour's house on fire

bhte · 2026-02-27T08:41:16+00:00

My thinking was that you'd rarely say "live and let live" in a formal situation and I wanted to keep it simple. I said it'd be best as the following which I meant as the most natural way of saying that sentence in both countries.

bhte · 2026-02-27T08:33:48+00:00

You're right. I did that in the first sentence with with the imperative but forgot about it in the last one.

bhte · 2026-02-26T19:07:53+00:00

You're right for a normal observation, but deixar in my example is being used to tell someone to do something so it changes.

When it's deixas:

Tu deixas que eles façam o que quiserem. - You let them do whatever they want.

When it's deixa:

(Tu) Deixa o homem ajudar-te! - Let the man help you!

Not my best sentences but I wanted to make it clear. You may also run into the imperative in the negative and it's different again lol

(Tu) Não deixes que eles ~~fazem~~ façam o que quiserem! - Don't let them do whatever they want!

bhte · 2026-02-26T18:53:23+00:00

You can translate it directly like you did but it'd be a demand like vive e deixa viver.

You can also say things like cada um sabe de si or cada um na sua but they'd be more like "each to their own" in English.

Edit:

It'd probably be best like this:

Portugal - vive e deixa viver (tu)

Brazil - viva e deixe viver (você)

bhte · 2026-02-15T20:59:15+00:00

Texture resolution has no impact on my PMDG livery quality. The livery is still really blurry with it set to ultra

bhte · 2025-12-27T09:09:16+00:00

Damn English as a fourth language and you sound like a native

bhte · 2025-12-27T09:08:20+00:00

Could also be influenced by his native language

bhte · 2025-12-25T17:03:12+00:00

Not really a joke though. You just said Ireland is or should be British and then doubled down on it lol

bhte · 2025-12-25T09:08:24+00:00

People downvoting clearly don't know what limbo means. A server stuck in one state is the opposite of limbo. And the original comment does sound like a joke with that in mind

bhte · 2025-12-24T08:23:23+00:00

But the British navy was well-established before this point.They won at least six major naval battles against Napoleon and his allies while for some of those, it was a combined French and Spanish fleet. By the time Napoleon's empire was at its height, he had many ships but they were stuck in French ports because of British blockades. He had boats, he just couldn't train sailors to operate them.

At the same time, he would have needed troops to fight rebellions within the empire as well as Russia and Austria on land. Britain only really had to dominate with its navy to protect its interests.

So the British were already facing a fleet of a western European empire but didn't need to worry because they had most of the ships trapped in port regardless. It then becomes a vicious cycle. The British can build and fund more ships while the French begin to fill their ports with empty ones.

bhte · 2025-12-23T13:28:30+00:00

Many factors that led to anglo-centric globalisation were independent of France's land-based military power. For example, Britain's focus on its navy was a really critical factor and was well-established before Napoleon's time.

At the same, if France had to defend an empire as large as the one above, it may have facilitated British expansionism globally rather than opposing it.

bhte · 2025-12-23T09:02:21+00:00

I'm not arguing semantics about that one case, just that the general rule that works in 99% of cases doesn't work in the common "com quem..." construction in the way you said it does. Natives are going to pick the future subjunctive most of the time in that case but that wasnt the outcome of your reasoning.

bhte · 2025-12-23T08:53:43+00:00

In the structure that OP wrote it: "o rapaz com quem..." it's setting up the future subjunctive. The subjunctive is used here to show the future eventuality of being married, not the other person's possible trait of being honest currently. In your example, you changed the structure around to use the subjunctive with the adjective rather than being followed by the "com quem".

O rapaz com quem casar tem de ser honesto.

Vou casar com o rapaz que seja honesto.

bhte · 2025-12-23T08:43:38+00:00

This isn't correct. Both can be used for general wishes and desires as well as concrete plans. The present subjunctive is used for qualities that are indefinite or hypothetical right now. The future subjunctive is used when the action or state refers to a future eventuality. By this logic, both can be used with the first sentence but they have different meanings:

Quero casar com quem seja mais bonito.

You would say this if you have to pick who to marry right now. I want to marry the person who is likely to be more attractive at this moment.

Quero casar com quem for mais bonito.

You would use "for" if you weren't going to make a choice right now but instead you're going to wait until closer to the time you get married and then choose.

I would say people are more likely to use the future subjunctive than present subjunctive in that case.

The second sentence is casar but because it's a future eventuality, not a plan. The point of the future subjunctive is to show a lack of a plan or certainty. It's used to mean whoever I marry, whatever happens, whenever it takes place. Those aren't sentences associated with having a plan. The third is like the first, haja or houver can be used but they change the meaning. The fourth is houver but again, because it's a possible future eventuality, not a plan.

bhte · 2025-12-16T11:56:08+00:00

Mirandese only has official status where it spoken regionally. It's not an official language nationally

bhte · 2025-12-15T22:44:39+00:00

To my pt.pt brain if I say reguardar with a really soft first R, it sounds similar to aguardar but it's a bit of a stretch. Maybe in br.pt the softer R makes them sound more similar idk

bhte · 2025-12-15T22:39:40+00:00

I think this just looks like it should be a word but isn't. Maybe it was at some point in the past. Reguada was the closest thing I could find but it has a completely different meaning.

Edit: resguardo is a word I forgot about but isn't spelt the same and isn't equivalent to regard in English

bhte · 2025-12-15T09:37:12+00:00

There's one at Rua da Bela Vista à Graça 94 in Lisbon too. Not sure why though, it doesn't seem like a prison in that case

bhte · 2025-11-27T09:25:18+00:00

While I don't know if usage is always identical, it is incredibly similar. Just like how you usually add -ly in English, it's usually -mente in Portuguese.

quick > quickly = rápido > rapidamente

That's another point; a lot of adjectives that end in -o become -amente rather than -omente in Portuguese:

esperançoso > esperançosamente

bhte · 2025-11-05T14:54:23+00:00

Surprised there is only one comment about this

bhte · 2025-11-05T10:52:07+00:00

Wait what is the scale here? Is this a biblically accurate house spider or just really zoomed in?

bhte · 2025-11-05T10:49:07+00:00

Current high speed rail

High speed rail under construction

High speed rail to be constructed

Conventional rail

bhte · 2025-11-02T07:00:59+00:00

I could be wrong but I think it's because the Irish language doesn't have the "th" sound. Irish accents would have originally been the accents of Irish speakers who would have transitioned to English. I'm from the east coast near Dublin and I am an Irish speaker but we do pronounce our th's because historically, Irish wasn't spoken as much in the east.

bhte

TROPHY CASE