Língua da Gente — Suco de Maracujá!

🎧 Listen to the podcast episode

First listen: What drink is offered? Does speaker A accept? Does speaker B like it plain, or does it need something extra?

Língua da Gente · Episode 30

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💬 The Conversation

Listen again while reading. Notice how B answers the question "Você gosta?" — just one word! And pay attention to the special word B uses for "you".

A

O que é isso?

What is this?

B

Suco de maracujá, tu quer?

Passion fruit juice, would you like some?

A

Obrigada. Você gosta?

Thanks. Do you like it?

B

Gosto, mas é um pouco azedo sem açúcar.

I like it, but it's a little sour without sugar.

📖 Gostar de — Saying what you like

A asks "Você gosta?" and B answers simply "Gosto." — just the verb, no pronoun. This one-word answer is completely natural in Brazilian Portuguese and sounds much more fluent than repeating the full sentence.

Subject	Gostar de	Short answer
Eu	Eu gosto de maracujá.	Gosto. (Yes, I like it.)
Você / Ele / Ela	Você gosta de suco?	Gosta. (Yes, she likes it.)
A gente	A gente gosta de frutas.	Gosta.
Vocês / Eles / Elas	Eles gostam de açúcar?	Gostam. (Yes, they like it.)

⚠️ Gostar ALWAYS needs "de" Unlike English "I like juice", Portuguese requires the preposition: gosto de suco. Skipping it is one of the most common beginner mistakes. The rule is simple: gostar de + noun or infinitive. Examples: Gosto de maracujá. / Gosto de cantar. / Não gosto de azedo.

📖 O que é isso? + É um pouco… — Identifying and describing

Two very practical structures appear in this dialogue: asking what something is, and describing its taste or quality with a degree word.

Structure	Example	Meaning
O que é isso?	— O que é isso? — É suco de maracujá.	What is this? — It's passion fruit juice.
É + adjective	É azedo. / É doce. / É gostoso.	It's sour. / It's sweet. / It's tasty.
É um pouco + adjective	É um pouco azedo.	It's a little sour.
É muito + adjective	É muito gostoso!	It's very tasty!
com / sem + noun	Com açúcar. / Sem açúcar.	With sugar. / Without sugar.

Taste vocabulary:

Portuguese	English
azedo	sour / tart
doce	sweet
amargo	bitter
salgado	salty
gostoso / delicioso	tasty / delicious

📖 Key Expressions from the Dialogue

Portuguese	English	Notes
O que é isso?	What is this?	One of the most useful beginner questions. Isso = this / that (neutral, nearby). Compare: O que é aquilo? = What is that (far away)?
Tu quer?	Would you like some?	Tu is a regional form of "you" — common in the Northeast and South of Brazil. Notice: tu quer (not tu queres as in Portugal) — Brazilians use the você verb form with tu.
Obrigado / Obrigada	Thank you	The form agrees with the speaker's gender, not the listener's. A woman says Obrigada; a man says Obrigado. A says Obrigada → A is a woman.
Gosto.	I like it. / Yes, I do.	One-word verb answer — just like answering "Do you like it?" with "I do" in English. Very natural in Brazilian Portuguese.
mas	but	Essential connector: Gosto, mas* é azedo.* = I like it, but it's sour. Use mas to add contrast or a qualifier.

🇧🇷 Culture Note — Maracujá e o Brasil Passion fruit (maracujá) is one of Brazil's most beloved fruits — intensely aromatic, tart, and tropical. You'll find it everywhere: fresh juice (suco de maracujá), mousse (mousse de maracujá), cheesecake, caipirinhas, and more. Because it can be very tart on its own, Brazilians almost always sweeten the juice with sugar or adoçante (sweetener). If you're offered suco natural in a Brazilian home, you're in for a treat — nothing compares to it fresh!

🔊 Tu vs. você — regional variation in Brazil Most Brazilians use você as the standard "you" — it works everywhere. But tu is alive and well in the Northeast (Maranhão, Pará, Fortaleza), Rio de Janeiro, and the far South (Rio Grande do Sul). The key difference from European Portuguese: Brazilians say "tu quer", not "tu queres". If you hear tu, don't panic — you can always respond with você and everyone will understand!

1 What does it mean? — Expression Quiz

Each expression comes from the dialogue. Choose the correct English meaning.

O que é isso?

✅ Correct! O que = what, é = is, isso = this/that. Together: "What is this?" — one of the most useful questions a beginner can know!

Gosto.

✅ Correct! Gosto alone = "I like it" — a natural one-word answer in Portuguese, just as fluent as the full sentence Eu gosto de maracujá.

É um pouco azedo.

✅ Correct! Um pouco = a little / a bit. Azedo = sour/tart. Compare: muito azedo = very sour.

Sem açúcar.

✅ Correct! Sem = without, com = with. Açúcar = sugar. Pair them up: com açúcar / sem açúcar — very useful for ordering food and drinks!

2 Complete the Dialogue

Fill in the blanks with the missing words.
Word bank: maracujá · gosto · azedo · isso · açúcar

— O que é ?

— Suco de , tu quer?

— Obrigada. Você gosta?

— , mas é um pouco sem .

3 Gostar de — Choose the correct form

Select the correct conjugation of gostar for each sentence.

Eu ___ de suco de maracujá.

Você ___ de café?

Eles ___ de frutas tropicais.

A gente ___ muito de açúcar.

4 Your Turn — Gosto de… mas…

Write in Portuguese.
Choose 2 foods or drinks. For each one, say whether you like it and describe its taste. Use um pouco / muito and sem / com at least once.