If you add the prefix over to a verb, you intensify the verb.

Overwork means to work too much.

I feel overworked means I feel exhausted.

Overdo means to do too much of something.

I overdid it when I was working out. Now my muscles are sore. That means that I exercised too much or too strenuously.

I overslept means I slept too long.

When you oversleep you may be late for work.

See you soon!

Mary Ziller from USA

In portuguese, it is ok to say “Não como nada.” But you cannot say “I don’t eat nothing” in English.

Here is a jingle (poem) we use to teach children not to use double negatives.

Don’t ever use NOT and NEVER together.

Don’t say, “We don’t never have fun” because you’ll be using two negatives and you need to be using just one.

You will always be in trouble in your negatives are double!

From Up, Up and Away: a Book About Adverbs by Ruth Heller.

See you!
Mary Ziller from USA

Here are some idioms we use to express the concept of help.

Let me give you a hand.

Helping, assisting someone with something, is a nice thing to do, and giving someone a hand means to help them.

“(Are you )In a jam?”

If you are in a jam, you require someone’s help to get out the

We can help someone out financially or try to get him out of a jam (a difficult or problematic situation).

“Help yourself!”

At a party the host may tell us to help ourselves (serve ourselves) to the buffet.

But help isn’t always meant in a positivie way.
The word help does not always mean to help someone (ajuda, assistir).

If someone says, “Get some help” in an unfriendly tone, they are implying that you need psychiatric help. It is an assertion that you are so imbalanced that you need to see a psychiatrist. Usually,they don’t really intend to objectively assess your actual mental state, but they are trying to insult you.

Speaking of not being crazy, the phrase “like crazy” does not refer to anyone’s mental state. The sentence,”The new software is selling like crazy,” means it is selling furiously, very much, fast.

I hope that helps!

See you,

Mary Ziller from USA

The preterite is used to express past actions that have been completed. They are often contrasted with another action that is taking place in the background when an event occurs. We often use the imperfect to set the background and context in which an action took place, and the action is expressed in the Past Definite (simple past).

Eles assistiam televisão quando o telefone tocou.
They were watching television when the phone rang.

Eu estudei Português ontem.
I studied Portuguese yesterday.
(When you use a word like yesterday, which pinpoints a definite time, you use the past definite).

Ontem falei com Mary.
Yesterday I talked to Mary.

Ele trabalhou semana passada.
He worked last week. (Last week is a definite time).

Ele não trabalhou semana passada.
He did not work last week.

Choveu ontem à noite.
It rained last night.

Ela vendeu o carro.
She sold the car.

Abrimos a loja.
We opened the store.

With many thanks to my collaborator Mat Pestana.

The imperfect (eu falava) is used to express an action that was happening in the past, in a continuous manner, as well as for repeated or habitual past actions. It is also used to describe the background of a story being narrated. It is not was well defined in terms of time as the preterite.

Eu falava can be I was speaking, or I used to speak.

Eu falava com o professor até o telefone tocar.
I was talking to the teacher until the phone rang.

Let’s look at some other examples:

Eu falava com Alessandro todos os dias.
I used to speak to Alessandro every day.

Nós líamos quando Mat chegou.
We were reading when Mat arrived.

Aonde ia o senhor quando o vi?
Where were you going when I saw you?

Quando eu era criança, eu não gostava de ir à escola.
When I was a child, I did not like to go to school.

Meu marido nadava todos os dias, mas agora não pode pois está frio.
My husband used to swim everyday, but now he can’t since it is cold.
(It was a habit, but now he does not).

Os senhores vivíam no Rio de Janeiro.
The men used to live in Rio.

Havia muita gente na festa.
There were a lot of people at the party.

O livro estava na mesa.
The book was on the table.

With many thanks to my collaborator: Mat Pestana