Lesson 6

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Lesson 6, contrastive analysis between English and Brazilian Portuguese
Ao final desta aula, você será capaz de:
1. understand how to translate the causative form English to Portuguese;
2. understand the possible ways of translating the progressive aspect English to Portuguese;
Causative Form (Have/ Get Something Done)
The causative form in English is used when the speaker means that the action was performed by someone else rather than him. Observe the following sentences:
(1) I painted my room yesterday. 
(2) I had my room painted yesterday.
In sentence (1) the speaker implies that he painted the house by himself whereas in sentence (2) another person performed the action for him. The structure of the causative form is always the same and can be used in any tense:
I had my house painted yesterday.
SUBJECT + VERB HAVE/ GET (in any tense) + OBJECT + main verb in the past participle
Observe the variations in tense and modality:
	SIMPLE PRESENT:
	Helen has her car washed every single week.
	PRESENT CONTINUOUS:
	Paul is having his hair cut right now. He can’t talk to you.
	PRESENT PERFECT:
	The kids have had their toys collected every day this week. They will never learn about discipline and good behavior.
	SIMPLE PAST:
	Carl had his book published last week.
	FUTURE:
	We will have our wedding party organized by a renowned company.
	MODAL VERBS:
	You should get your hair died before the wedding.
Billy must have had his car fixed. It was broken two weeks ago and now it's perfect! 
We can have our house sold as soon as we decide to leave the country.
Let’s practice a little bit. Complete the following sentences with the causative form of the verbs in parentheses:
 
1) Julian __had___ his house ___decorated___ (to decorate/ past) by a very skilled professional.
2) _____Will____ Carl _have____ his car __repaired_______ (to repair/ future) next weekend?
3) Bridget __has had__ her picture __painted_ (to paint/ present perfect) by a very famous painter.
KEY: 
(1) had/ got his house decorated; 
(2) Will Carl have/ get his car repaired/ Is Carl going to have/ get his car repaired;
(3) has had/ got her picture painted.
In BrP there is no similar structure to the causative form in English. When the causative form is translated into BrP we can use the verb “mandar”.
 
(1) I painted my room yesterday. = Eu pintei meu quarto ontem.
(2) I had my room painted yesterday. = Eu mandei pintar meu quarto ontem.
 
In some cases, you will have to choose to change the structure of the sentence so you can keep the original meaning of the sentence. For example, in English the sentences (1) I cut my hair and (2) I had my hair cut have different meanings. In sentence (1) what is meant is that the subject of the sentence himself/ herself performed the action, whereas in sentence (2) the subject of the sentence had someone else do it for him/her. In BrP, when the speaker says “Cortei meu cabelo”, the meaning can be either that the subject has performed the action himself or herself or that he had someone do it for him/her.
For this reason, if the meaning is that the subject of the sentence performed the action, then the translation into English is going to be I cut my hair.
Now, if the meaning is that the subject of the sentence had someone else cut his/ her hair, then the translation is going to be I had my hair cut. 
Now, it’s your turn to translate the sentences:
1) Ian had his leather jacket cleaned at a specialist cleaner.
2) Peter got his car washed last Sunday.
3) Tom is going to get a tooth taken out next week.
4) Philip has the oil of his car changed every two months.
5) Eleanor will have her bike repaired when she comes back from her holidays.
1) Ian mandou lavar sua jaqueta de couro numa lavanderia especializada.
2) Peter mandou lavar seu carro semana passada.
3) Tom vai extrair um dente na próxima semana.
4) Philip leva seu carro para trocar o óleo a cada dois meses.
5) Eleanor vai mandar consertar sua bicicleta quando ela voltar das férias.
 The Progressive Aspect
Tense and Aspect
 
Before we start talking about the translation of the progressive aspect in English, it is important for you to understand what the word aspect means. In order to facilitate your understanding, we must make a distinction between the words tense and aspect.
Tense refers to the specific location of the action or event in time and the verb used to express this action or event is inflected. Thus, we can say that there are only two tenses in the English language: present and past. As there is no verb inflection in any of the future forms, we cannot talk of a “future tense”.
On the other hand, aspect refers to how an event or action can be viewed with respect to time, rather than to its actual location in time, and it indicates if an action is completed or not. 
There are four aspects in English: simple (or infinite), perfect (or complete), progressive (or continuous), and the perfect continuous.
Let’s examine each one of them a bit further.
The simple aspect: 
Does not relate to the flow of time (there is no reference where on a timeline an action begins or ends), but it simply states whether the action has occurred or not. It is used to indicate habitual or repeated actions/ conditions.
E.g. Monkeys live in trees. (The verb simply tells where monkeys live.)
The past aspect 
Indicates that the action/ condition is known and is used to emphasize the fact that the action is complete. The action may, however, be completed in the present, in the past, or in the future.
E.g. Susan has lived in London for a long time. (In this sentence, the action took place in the past, but it is implied that it took place recently and is still relevant at the time of speaking)
The progressive aspect
Indicates that the action/ condition is ongoing in the present, the past, or the future.
E.g. Helen is working for IBM. (The action of working is still in progress)
The perfect progressive aspect
Indicates that an action has, had, or will be in progress at a particular point in time. It is frequently used to indicate the duration of an action/ event.
E.g. Susan had been living in London for two years when she decided to move to Australia. (In this sentence the action of living in London is complete)
It is important to observe that aspect cannot occur without tense. Thus, the auxiliary verb "be" expresses the tense of the verb as in "am eating" (present progressive) or "was eating" (past progressive).
Tense expresses time while aspect expresses the fact that a state or action is ongoing.
 The Progressive Aspect
The progressive aspect is a verb form that expresses incomplete or ongoing actions or states at a specific time. 
All forms of the progressive aspect in English include some form of the verb be (am/ is/ are/ was/ were/ has been/ had been/ will have been, etc.) followed by a present participle (verb + -ing).
The Present Progressive (or Continuous)
The present progressive is most often used in sentences that express actions happening at the moment of speaking, extended actions that are in progress, actions happening in the near future, repetitive and irritating actions, and actions occurring for a limited time.
Observe the following sentences:
1.  Bill and Juliet are watching TV. (action happening at the moment of speaking)
2.  I am reading a book by Saramago. (extended action in progress)
3.  Susan is seeing her doctor on Tuesday. (action happening in the near future)
4.  Those children are always shouting at one another. (repetitive and irritating action)
5. My daughter is staying at her uncle’s home on the weekend. (action occurring for a limited time)
When translating these sentences into BrP, one must be attentive to the fact that not all sentences are going to be translated by the gerund form of the verb. Sentences 1, 2 and 4 would be translated with the gerund (Bill e Juliet estão assistindoTV/ Estou lendo um livro do Saramago/ Aquelas crianças estão sempre gritando umas com as outras), whereas sentences 3 and 5 would be translated with the use of a future form (Susan irá ao médico na terça-feira/ Minha filha ficará na casa de seu tio no final de semana). 
The use of the phrases “estará vendo” and “estará ficando” is not correct in BrP, although it is widely observed in telemarketing language.
The past progressive is most commonly used in sentences that express incomplete or ongoing actions or states that began, continued, and ended in the past but over a longer period of time than another completed action expressed by the simple past tense. Observe the following sentences:
1. The phone was ringing when Kate opened the door of the office.
2. David was taking a shower when his wife arrived.
The past progressive may also be employed in sentences that express past actions that progressed in time in the past, that occurred simultaneously, that described the atmosphere of an event, and that were repetitive and irritating. Observe the following sentences:
When the detective asked us about the boys, we told him that they were playing volleyball every day on Monday. (past actions that progressed in time in the past)
4. Paul was reading the paper while Marian and Fiona were studying in the living room.  (past actions that occurred simultaneously)
5. When the police arrived everyone was talking about the incident. (description of the atmosphere of an event)
6. When I think about my childhood, I remember a neighbor who was always mowing the lawn on Saturday in the morning. The noise always made me wake up earlier than I wanted. (repetitive and irritating event)
The Future Progressive (or Continuous)
The future progressive is used when we want to emphasize that a certain action will be in progress at a given time in the future or that an action that started in the present or past will be still in progress in the future (in this case the word still must be used).
It is important to observe that at the moment referred to in the future the action will still be in progress.
Look the following examples: I’m so excited! At this time next week, I’ll be watching Les Misérables, my favorite musical ever!  
Jason moved to that house when he graduated and it seems that when he retires he will still be living there. He just loves that place.
The Perfect Progressive
The progressive aspect of the perfect tenses (present perfect, past perfect and future perfect) is used to emphasize the continuous aspect of the actions described by these tenses. Observe the following pairs of sentences:
1. (a) Robert has lived in London for two years.
Robert has been living in London for two years.
(a) Robert had lived in London for two years when he was transferred to Paris.
Robert had been living in London for two years when he was transferred to Paris.
(a) Robert will have lived abroad for four years when his son graduates.
Robert will have been living abroad for four years when his son graduates.
Sentence (1a) may have two different meanings: (1) that Robert has lived in London for two years (what counts here is not the time when he lived in London but the fact itself); he may have started living in London two years ago or may have lived there for any two years in the past; or (2) that Robert has lived in London for two years and he still lives there (the time when he lived in London is not important). However, if the intention of the speaker is to emphasize the fact that Robert is still living in London he should choose to use sentence (1b). When it comes to translation, the difference in meaning between the two sentences becomes more evident:
Present Perfect  Robert has lived in London for two years (any time in the past) = Robert morou em Londres por dois anos.
Present Perfect  Robert has lived in London for two years (and still lives there) = Robert mora em Londres há dois anos.
Present Perfect Continuous  Robert has been living in London for two years = Robert mora em Londres há dois anos. (The sentence Robert tem morado em Londres há dois anos is a possible translation but does not sound natural. Therefore, it should not be used).
The Perfect Progressive
Now it’s your turn. Match sentences 2a and 2b with the translations that would sound more natural to a BrP speaker. If you think the sentence is not appropriate, write an (X).
 
a) (x) Robert morara em Londres por dois anos quando foi transferido para Paris.
b) (2a) Robert havia morado em Londres por dois anos quando foi transferido para Paris.
c) (x) Robert morou em Londres por dois anos quando foi transferido para Paris.
d) (2b) Robert estava morando em Londres por dois anos quando foi transferido para Paris.
e) (x) Robert havia estado morando em Londres por dois anos quando foi transferido para Paris.
KEY: a) ( X ) / b) (2a) / c) ( X ) / d) ( 2b ) / e) ( X )
In the pair of sentences (3a) and (3b), we can see the use of the future perfect and the future perfect continuous, respectively. In sentence (3b) the future perfect continuous is used to emphasize the idea of continuity of an action that will be completed at a given time in the future. In sentence (3b) Robert will still be living abroad. However, sentence (3a) is ambiguous in the sense that he may or may not be still living abroad.
 
Now it’s your turn. Match sentences 3a and 3b with the translations that would sound more natural to a BrP speaker. If you think the sentence is not appropriate, write an (X).
 
a) (2a) Robert terá vivido no exterior por quatro anos quando seu filho se formar.
b) (x) Robert terá estado vivendo no exterior por quatro anos quando seu filho se formar.
c) (2b) Robert estará vivendo no exterior por quatro anos quando seu filho se formar.
KEY: a) (2a)/ b) ( X )/ c) ( 2b )
Modal verbs can also be used in the progressive and the progressive perfect aspects. Observe the following examples: 
1. Let’s call Helen later. She may be working now.
2. Don’t phone him now. He must be studying.
3. I called her last month but she did not answer the phone. She must have been travelling.
4. Frank was offered a position at IBM but he declined it. He might have been thinking of getting a better job offer.
Read the following cartoon and tick the correct sentences below:
1. (x) By using the expression “to get your mower fixed” the character implies that the other man should have fixed to mower himself. 
2. (   ) The character could have used “have” instead of “get” without any change in meaning.
3. (   ) The meaning of the sentences with get (“get your mower fixed”) is the same as the one with have (“have your mower fixed”).
In this class, you could:
Understand how to translate the causative form English to Portuguese;
understand the possible ways of translating the progressive aspect English to Portuguese.
Next class:
In the next lesson we will continue studying how the differences between the English and the BrP languages affect translation. This time our focus will be on the study of the Present Perfect and on the differences in translation between the verbs "come and go" and "bring and take".