If you don't know a foreign language very well, translating from your native language to the other language using a dictionary can be challenging and frustrating, and there’s always the risk that you’ll make a serious mistake. It is interesting when one single verb can have multiple meanings according to the context. The verbs tomar, apanhar and tirar are three good examples. Today let’s look at the verb tomar.
| TOMAR | |
| Tomar o pequeno-almoço
Eu tomo o pequeno-almoço todos os dias antes de sair de casa. |
To have breakfast
I have breakfast every day before leaving the house. |
| Tomar um banho/um duche
Tu tomas um duche depois de fazer desporto. |
To take a bath/a shower
You take a shower after doing sports. |
| Tomar uma bebida
Aos fins de semana ele gosta de tomar uma cerveja. |
To have a drink
On weekends he enjoys having a beer. |
| Tomar uma decisão
Nós tomamos uma decisão e vamos aprender Português no próximo ano. |
To make a decision We made a decision and we are going to learn Portuguese next year. |
|
Tomar um comprimido/vacina/ injeção Eles tomaram um comprimido porque tinham dores de cabeça. |
To take a pill/vaccine/ injection They took a pill because they had headaches. |
|
Tomar notas É importante tomar notas durante as aulas de Português. |
To take notes
It is important to take notes during the Portuguese lessons. |
| Tomar uma direção/ um rumo
O barco tomou a direção errada e perdeu-se no oceano. |
To take a direction
The boat took the wrong direction and got lost in the ocean. |
|
Tomar consciência de... Os jovens devem tomar consciência do perigo das drogas. |
To be/to become aware of…
Young people must become aware of the dangers of drugs. |
| Tomar conta de…
Quando eu tinha 16 anos, às vezes tomava conta do meu irmão mais novo. Tomar conta de... Quando o nosso pai não está no escritório, nós temos de tomar conta do negócio dele. |
To look after...
When I was 16 years old, sometimes I used to look after my younger brother. To take care of... When our father is out of the office we have to take care of his business. |
| Tomar partido de…
Após ouvir o debate, o João tomou partido do seu amigo António. |
To take side of…
After listening to the debate, João took the side of his friend António. |
Next time we will talk about the verb apanhar. Like the one we have studied above, apanhar has multiple meanings used every day.