Lesson 7.1

Minha casa

My Home

Welcome to Unit 7! Over the next six lessons you'll learn to talk about the place you live — from the rooms of your house to the quirks of your Carioca neighborhood. We start today with the basic vocabulary for a Brazilian home and the two verbs Brazilians use for 'to live': 'morar' and 'viver'. By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to say where you live, describe your rooms, and invite a friend for a tour. Bora começar!

Learning tips

'Morar em' is the default for saying where you live in Brazil — 'Eu moro no Rio'. Save 'viver' for talking about your life in a broader sense.
Memorize the contractions: 'em + o = no', 'em + a = na'. 'Moro no Rio', 'moro na cidade' — no contractions sound robotic.
With cities that use an article in Portuguese (o Rio, o Recife), use 'no/na'. With cities that don't (São Paulo, Salvador), use plain 'em'.
'Num' = 'em + um' and 'numa' = 'em + uma' — these informal contractions are everywhere in spoken BR: 'Moro num apartamento', 'moro numa casa'.

Warm-up & Active Recall

Recap: Last unit you learned to talk about going out with friends — 'bater um papo', ordering food and drinks, and sharing 'petiscos' at a boteco. Today we shift indoors and learn how to describe your home.

Word	Meaning
o boteco	the bar/pub
o petisco	the appetizer/snack
a porção	the portion
a cerveja	the beer
dividir	to split/share
pedir mais	to order more
o amigo	the friend (masc.)
a amiga	the friend (fem.)
conversar	to chat
rir	to laugh

Dialog

Beatriz gives Thiago a little tour of her apartment in Santa Teresa — one of Rio's most charming bohemian hillside neighborhoods. Watch how she uses 'morar em' to say where she lives, and notice the contractions 'em + articles' (no corredor, em Santa Teresa). Thiago also mentions he lives in Botafogo 'num prédio' — a very Brazilian informal contraction of 'em + um'.

🏠 Em Santa Teresa — um tour pelo apartamento da Bia

Beatriz

Entra, Thiago! Esta é a minha casa. Eu moro aqui há três anos.

(Come-in, Thiago! This is the my house. I live here for three years.)

Come on in, Thiago! This is my place. I've lived here for three years.

Thiago

Nossa, que legal! É um apartamento grande. Você vive sozinha?

(Wow, how cool! It is an apartment big. You live alone?)

Wow, how cool! It's a big apartment. Do you live alone?

Beatriz

Vivo, sim. Olha, esta é a sala, e ali é a cozinha.

(I-live, yes. Look, this is the living-room, and there is the kitchen.)

I do, yeah. Look, this is the living room, and over there is the kitchen.

Thiago

E o banheiro? E o quarto?

(And the bathroom? And the bedroom?)

And the bathroom? And the bedroom?

Beatriz

O banheiro fica no corredor. O meu quarto é o primeiro, e tem uma varanda pequena.

(The bathroom is in-the corridor. The my bedroom is the first, and has a balcony small.)

The bathroom is off the hallway. My bedroom is the first one, and it has a little balcony.

Thiago

Que vista linda! Dá pra ver o Pão de Açúcar daqui!

(What view pretty! You-can to see the Sugarloaf from-here!)

What a beautiful view! You can see Sugarloaf from here!

Beatriz

Eu sei, por isso eu amo morar em Santa Teresa. E você, mora no Rio agora?

(I know, for this I love to-live in Santa Teresa. And you, live in-the Rio now?)

I know, that's why I love living in Santa Teresa. What about you — do you live in Rio now?

Thiago

Moro, sim. Moro em Botafogo, num prédio com elevador e garagem.

(I-live, yes. I-live in Botafogo, in-a building with elevator and garage.)

I do, yeah. I live in Botafogo, in a building with an elevator and a garage.

Vocabulary

Active words

Word	IPA	Translation	Note
a casa	/a ˈka.zɐ/	the house, home	Also used loosely to mean 'place' — 'minha casa' can be an apartment
o apartamento	/u a.paʁ.tɐˈmẽ.tu/	the apartment	Often shortened to 'o apê' in casual speech
a cozinha	/a koˈzi.ɲɐ/	the kitchen	Feminine noun
o banheiro	/u bɐˈɲej.ɾu/	the bathroom	Masculine — the shower-and-toilet room in a Brazilian home
a sala	/a ˈsa.lɐ/	the living room	The main social space — also used for dining room in many Brazilian apartments
o quarto	/u ˈkwaʁ.tu/	the bedroom, room	Masculine — also 'the quarter' in compass sense, but here it's 'bedroom'
a varanda	/a vaˈɾɐ̃.dɐ/	the balcony, veranda	A prized feature in Rio apartments — often with a view
morar	/moˈɾaʁ/	to live (somewhere), to reside	The default BR verb for 'I live in...' — always paired with 'em'
viver	/viˈveʁ/	to live (one's life)	More general — 'vivo bem aqui' = 'I live well here'
grande	/ˈɡɾɐ̃.dʒi/	big, large	Doesn't change between masculine and feminine — 'apartamento grande', 'casa grande'

Passive words

Word	IPA	Translation	Note
a garagem	/a ɡaˈɾa.ʒẽj̃/	the garage	A common feature in BR apartment buildings
o corredor	/u ko.ʁeˈdoʁ/	the hallway, corridor	Usually the inner passage between rooms
o elevador	/u e.le.vaˈdoʁ/	the elevator	Common in 4+ story buildings
o portão	/u poʁˈtɐ̃w̃/	the gate, main door	The street-facing gate of a building or house
o terraço	/u teˈʁa.su/	the terrace, rooftop	Outdoor open space — often on top floors
a cobertura	/a ko.beʁˈtu.ɾɐ/	the penthouse	Top-floor apartment with private terrace — very sought-after in Rio

Useful chunks

Word	Translation
eu moro em	I live in
moro no Rio / moro em São Paulo	I live in Rio / I live in São Paulo (note the difference: 'no' with Rio, plain 'em' with São Paulo)

Pronunciation: Two things to notice: (1) 'apartamento' has five syllables — a-par-ta-MEN-to — stress on the 4th. The final 'o' becomes 'u': /a.paʁ.tɐˈmẽ.tu/. (2) The word 'grande' ends in '-de' which palatalizes to /dʒi/ in most of Brazil — say 'GRAN-dji', not 'GRAN-de'. This palatalization is a signature BR sound.

Grammar: Morar and viver in the present tense — 'morar em' for the place you live, 'viver' for how/where you lead your life

Pronome	Morar (presente)	Viver (presente)	Exemplo
Eu	moro	vivo	Eu moro em Santa Teresa.
Você / Ele / Ela	mora	vive	Ela mora em Copacabana.
Nós / A gente	moramos / mora	vivemos / vive	A gente mora no Rio.
Vocês / Eles / Elas	moram	vivem	Eles moram num apartamento.

Morar vs. viver:

Morar em = to live at (a specific address/place). Este é o padrão no Brasil.

- Eu moro no Rio. / Eu moro em São Paulo. / Eu moro na cidade.

Viver = to live (more general — to lead a life, be alive). Também funciona para lugar, mas é mais enfático/poético.

- Ela vive em Paris há dez anos. / A gente vive bem aqui.

Prepositions 'em' + article:
| em + o | em + a | em + os | em + as |
|---|---|---|---|
| no (no Rio, no apartamento) | na (na cidade, na sala) | nos (nos Estados Unidos) | nas (nas praias) |

Com cidades sem artigo: Eu moro em São Paulo (sem artigo porque 'São Paulo' é usado sem 'a').

Morar and viver — both mean 'to live', but Brazilians use them differently.

Morar em is the default for where you physically live (your address). This is what you'll use 95% of the time.

Pronoun	Morar	Example
eu	moro	Eu moro em Santa Teresa.
você / ele / ela	mora	Ela mora no Rio.
nós / a gente	moramos / mora	A gente mora num apartamento.
vocês / eles / elas	moram	Eles moram em São Paulo.

Viver means 'to live' in the broader 'to be alive / to lead a life' sense. You can use it for places too, but it sounds more emphatic or poetic.

Pronoun	Viver	Example
eu	vivo	Eu vivo feliz aqui.
você / ele / ela	vive	Ela vive em Paris há dez anos.
nós / a gente	vivemos / vive	Nós vivemos bem no Rio.
vocês / eles / elas	vivem	Eles vivem no Brasil.

Preposition 'em' + article — the contractions you must know:

em + o	em + a	em + os	em + as
no (no Rio, no apartamento)	na (na cidade, na sala)	nos (nos Estados Unidos)	nas (nas praias)

And the informal ones: num = em + um, numa = em + uma. 'Moro num apartamento' is much more common than 'moro em um apartamento'.

Cities without articles (São Paulo, Salvador, Belo Horizonte) take plain em: 'Moro em São Paulo.' But 'Rio de Janeiro' always takes 'o': 'Moro no Rio.'

Exercises

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each sentence with the missing word.

Eu em Santa Teresa. (morar)(morar with eu — present tense)
A minha casa tem três e um banheiro.(plural of o quarto — bedrooms)
A é o lugar onde a gente cozinha.(the room where we cook)
O Thiago mora Rio, em Botafogo.(em + o Rio = contraction)
Nós num apartamento grande. (viver)(viver with nós — present tense)

Grammar Application

Conjugate or contract correctly.

Conjugue 'morar' com 'você': (você takes 3rd-person singular)
Conjugue 'viver' com 'eu': (eu form of viver)
em + o Brasil = (contraction em + o)
em + a cidade = (contraction em + a)
Conjugue 'morar' com 'eles': (eles form of morar)

Translation (English → Portuguese)

Translate each sentence into Brazilian Portuguese.

I live in Rio.
She lives in a big apartment.
My bedroom has a balcony.
Where do you live?
The bathroom is in the corridor.

Creative Construction

Write 2-3 sentences describing where you live — city, type of home, a room or two.

Takeaway

Use 'morar em' to say where you live: 'Eu moro no Rio', 'Moro em São Paulo', 'Moro num apartamento'. Learn the contractions cold: no, na, nos, nas, num, numa. 'Viver' is for a life in general — 'Eu vivo bem aqui'.

Culture note: Santa Teresa is one of Rio's most unique neighborhoods — a hilltop bairro of cobblestone streets, colonial mansions turned into studios, and the famous yellow 'bonde' (tram) rattling through the curves. It's favored by artists, musicians, and foreigners looking for something quieter than Ipanema or Copacabana. The views down to Guanabara Bay and up to Cristo Redentor are part of the daily scenery. When a Brazilian tells you they live 'em Santa', they're signaling a creative, boêmio kind of life — the opposite vibe of the high-rises of Barra da Tijuca.

Explanations in: de en