Língua da Gente — Primeira Vez no Brasil?

🎧 Listen to the podcast episode

First listen: Is this person's first time in Brazil? What reason do they give for coming? Is it the reason you'd expect?

Língua da Gente · Episode 38

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💬 The Conversation

Read along while listening. Notice the two highlighted forms of vir (to come) — they look different from the infinitive and from each other.

A

Essa é a primeira vez que você vem ao Brasil?

Is this the first time that you have come to Brazil?

B

É.

It is.

A

Você veio para trabalhar ou para estudar?

Did you come to work or to study?

B

Eu vim para as praias e para as caipirinhas.

I came for the beaches and for the caipirinhas.

📖 Vir — to come (irregular verb)

This dialogue uses three forms of vir: vem (present), veio (preterite — you/he/she came), and vim (preterite — I came). Vir is one of the most irregular verbs in Portuguese — every tense looks quite different from the infinitive.

Pronoun	Presente	Pretérito perfeito
eu	venho	vim
você / ele / ela	vem	veio
nós	vimos	viemos
eles / vocês	vêm	vieram

🔊 Vem vs. vêm Notice the accent: vem (he/she/you comes) vs. vêm (they/you all come). In speech they're pronounced slightly differently — vem is open, vêm is closed — but both are common and context usually makes the subject clear. The preterite forms vim / veio / viemos / vieram are the most important ones to practice for past-tense conversations.

💡 Vim vs. fui — "I came" vs. "I went" Both translate past movement, but the perspective differs. Vim (I came) = movement toward where the speaker is now or where the listener is. Fui (I went) = movement away from the speaker's current position. So a visitor in Brazil would say "vim ao Brasil" — I came to Brazil (I'm here now). Back home they'd say "fui ao Brasil" — I went to Brazil (past trip, now I'm back). You've already seen foi in Episode 31 ("ele foi para São Paulo").

📖 Para — expressing purpose and destination

A asks "você veio para trabalhar ou para estudar?" and B answers "vim para as praias e para as caipirinhas." Para expresses both purpose (in order to) and destination (for, to).

Structure	Use	Example
para + infinitivo	purpose — in order to	Vim para trabalhar. (I came to / in order to work.)
para + noun	destination / beneficiary — for	Vim para as praias. (I came for the beaches.)
para + place	destination — to	Ele foi para São Paulo. (He went to São Paulo.) — Ep. 31

B's answer "para as praias e para as caipirinhas" is playful — instead of answering the expected "work or study", the visitor gives a more fun, honest reason. This kind of humorous deflection is culturally very natural in Brazilian conversation.

📖 Primeira vez que… + Useful travel expressions

A opens with "Essa é a primeira vez que você vem ao Brasil?" — a very common pattern for asking about someone's first experience of something.

Portuguese	English	Notes
Essa é a primeira vez que você vem?	Is this your first time coming?	Literally: "Is this the first time that you come?" — present after que here
É a segunda vez que venho.	It's my second time coming.	Use ordinals: primeira, segunda, terceira vez…
Você veio para trabalhar?	Did you come to work?	Para + infinitive = purpose
Vim para as praias.	I came for the beaches.	Para + noun = for (reason/attraction)
É.	It is. / Yes, it is.	Ultra-short affirmative — just the verb é alone. Very common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

🇧🇷 A caipirinha B's answer is a gentle joke — but caipirinhas really are one of Brazil's most iconic cultural exports. Made with cachaça (sugarcane spirit), lime, and sugar, the caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail. The name comes from caipira, a word for a rural person from the interior. It's inseparable from Brazilian social life — you'll find it at every churrasco, beach bar, and festive gathering. Other regional variants use vodka (caipivodka) or sake (caipisake), especially in São Paulo.

1 VIR — Which form? Quiz

Choose the correct form of vir for each sentence.

Eu ___ ao Brasil de avião.

✅ Correct! Vim = I came (preterite, 1st person singular). Vim ao Brasil = I came to Brazil.

A professora ___ de Portugal.

✅ Correct! Veio = he/she/you came (preterite, 3rd person singular). A professora veio = The teacher came.

Essa é a primeira vez que você ___ aqui?

✅ Correct! After "é a primeira vez que" (it's the first time that…), Brazilian Portuguese uses the present tense: vem (you come). This is a fixed conversational pattern.

Nós ___ juntos de São Paulo.

✅ Correct! Viemos = we came (preterite, 1st person plural). Nós viemos juntos = We came together.

2 Complete the Dialogue

Fill in the blanks with the missing words.
Word bank: primeira · vem · veio · vim · praias

— Essa é a vez que você ao Brasil?

— É.

— Você para trabalhar ou para estudar?

— Eu para as e para as caipirinhas.

3 Para — purpose or destination?

Select whether para expresses purpose (in order to do something) or destination/reason (for a place or thing) in each sentence.

"Vim para estudar português."

"Vim para as praias."

"Ela foi para São Paulo trabalhar."

"Comprei um presente para a minha mãe."

4 Your Turn — Por que você veio?

Write in Portuguese.
Imagine you've just arrived in Brazil (or another country you'd love to visit). Write 4–5 sentences explaining: Is it your first time? How did you get there (vim de avião / de carro…)? Why did you come — para + infinitive and/or para + noun? What are you most excited about?