The Older You Get
The following is a quote from the sitcom "The Golden Girls":
My mother always used to say: "The older you get, the better you get, a menos que sejas uma banana.unless you're a banana."
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The Plus version of this story
A minha* mãe costumava dizer*: “Quanto mais velha ficas*, melhor*, a menos que sejas uma banana."My mother always used to say: “The older you get, the better you get, unless you’re a banana."
🔎 Words in this story
✴️ Costumava dizer (used to say)
The verb “costumar” derives from the noun “costume” which means “habit.” We use “costumar” as an auxiliary verb that we conjugate in the present or past tense, followed by the main verb in the infinitive.
The present tense (eu costumo) doesn’t have an exact correspondence in English, and is represented by “usually,” but the imperfect past tense (eu costumava) corresponds to the verb “used to.”
- Eu costumo acordar cedo. (I usually wake up early.)
- 🏃 Eu costumava correr todas as manhãs. (I used to run every morning.)
✴️ Ficas (you get)
There is a Plus version of this story
The same story, taken further, for DailyNata Plus members. This one works on possessives.
- The whole story in Portuguese, and its English
- The words in it, explained, with examples
- 2 interactive exercises
Written for level A2. Every story has its own, anywhere from A1 to B2.