• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Street Smart Brazil

We teach smart Portuguese

  • Contact
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Disclaimer
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Speak Portuguese With Ease
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop for Lessons
  • Starter Kit
  • Testimonials
  • Resources
  • Blog
Catching up with friends: How to say What You Have Been Doing in Portuguese

Catching up with friends: How to say What You Have Been Doing in Portuguese

posted on January 12, 2016

Catching up with friends: How to say What You Have Been Doing in Portuguese

How has 2016 been treating you? What have you been thinking about? How have you been feeling?

In this video lesson, I will show you a language structure that we tend to use when we are catching up with friends. I will show you how to say what you have been doing or how you have been feeling.

I will explain the structure in a simple way. You will get this, even if you are not crazy about grammar.

Say What You Have Been Doing in Portuguese

Observe the dialogue and the translation below it, and compare the verbs in bold in both versions.

Dialogue

Sueli: E aí, o que você tem feito ultimamente?

Vânia: Tenho trabalhado bastante. E você, o que tem feito?

Sueli: Nada demais. Tenho me sentido muito cansada.

Translation:

Sueli: So, what have you been doing lately?

Vânia: I have been working a lot. How about you, what have you been doing?

Sueli: Not much. I have been feeling very tired.

In English, you call this tense the Present Perfect Continuous. In Portuguese, we call it Pretérito Perfeito Composto do Indicativo.

But let’s not get all hung up on these complicated tense names. Let’s look at this in a practical way, and you will see that it is easy to say what you have been doing in Portuguese.

Compare the structures in English and in Portuguese:

Example 1:

Eng:   I     have been    working         a lot.

Port: Eu      tenho       trabalhado    muito.

Example 2:

Eng: Paula    has been    traveling      to different places.

Port: Paula        tem           viajado        a lugares diferentes.

In short

This parallel will always be true. So, to say what you have been doing in Portuguese, do the following:

  1. Use the present tense of verb Ter in place of “have been” in English
  2. Use the past participle of the main verb instead of the present continuous (-ing) in English

Done 🙂

The dialogue below has additional examples:

Dialogue

Sueli: O que você tem feito?

Vânia: Eu tenho saído muito com meus amigos.

Sueli:  Aonde vocês têm ido?

Vânia: Temos ido ao cinema.

Sueli:  Eu tenho passado os fins de semana em casa.

Vânia: Fazendo o quê?

Sueli:  Tenho lido ótimos livros.

Translation:

Sueli: What have you been up to?

Vânia: I have been going out a lot with my friends.

Sueli:  Where have you guys been going?

Vânia: We’ve been going to the movies.

Sueli:  I’ve been spending the weekends at home.

Vânia: Doing what?

Sueli:  I’ve been reading great books.

E aí, o que você tem feito? Tem praticado português?

The best way to learn how to speak a language is by speaking it. Books, videos, and software are all useful, but they can only do so much for you. Book a trial lesson with us To speak Portuguese with confidence, you need to practice speaking.

Book a trial lesson with us to learn and practice Portuguese with friendly and professional Brazilian instructors. Just imagine how wonderful it will feel to speak Portuguese with confidence.

Brazilian Portuguese lessons via Skype

Related Posts:

  • Tô na correria - One-Word Portuguese lesson
  • Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: Words beginning in PS
  • 12 Ways to Say You are Welcome in Brazil - Portuguese lesson

About Luciana Lage

I’m Luciana, founder of Street Smart Brazil. I am so happy to be able to help you in your Portuguese speaking journey! Teaching Portuguese as a foreign language was one of the best things that could have happened in my life. I’ve had the privilege of teaching Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. Now I am fully dedicated to the Street Smart Brazil community.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Masoud

    May 29, 2018 at 7:11 pm

    Thanks a lot Luciana!

    Reply
  2. Masoud

    May 29, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    In Portuguese ‘present perfect continuous’ and ‘present perfect’ are the same? (for example: ‘have been studying’ and ‘have studied’)

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      May 29, 2018 at 7:08 pm

      No, these are different tenses.

      I have studied this topic. = Estudei esse tópico. Notice that when you use the present perfect in English, I just use the simple past in Portuguese.

      I’ve been studying this topic. = Tenho estudado esse tópico. Or: Venho estudando esse tópico.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to see your pic by your comment? Get a free custom avatar at Gravatar.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Brazil
  • Brazilian music
  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Business Culture
  • Culture and History
  • Flashcards
  • Food
  • Grammar
  • Idiomatic Expressions
  • Learning Languages
  • Pronunciation
  • Resources
  • Video lessons
  • Visiting Brazil
  • Vocabulary

Schedule a Trial Session

Testimonials

Learning a new language can be one of the most challenging things you can do. The individualized and wholly personal tact of teaching at Street Smart Brazil makes it a challenge that you will want to … Read more
Gary
Street Smart Brazil has impressed me. Not only will your Brazilian Portuguese improve under their instruction but you will learn a lot about Brazilian culture.
Naomi
Streetsmart Brazil helped me to attain a Celpe Bras proficiency rating of advanced intermediate. Not only have I improved my reading and writing skills, I can speak more fluently on a wide range of t… Read more
Auby
I can highly recommend learning Portuguese with Street Smart Brazil. I have very good tutoring. My teacher is competent and nice. Her classes are great and she challenges me every single time in a ver… Read more
Marina

Find Resources

Make your learning fun and easy with good resources.
Learn More

51 Portuguese Idioms – Speak Like a Brazilian

You will learn each expression inside a real-life context: everyday situations that could happen to any of us.
Purchase Now >

Recent Posts

  • Meio or Meia? How to say KIND OF in Portuguese
  • Family Vocabulary in Portuguese
  • The Power of Rehearsal to Improve Language Learning
  • Learn the Numbers in Portuguese: All you need to know
  • The Difference Between ESTE, ESSE, ISSO in Portuguese

Search

Cart

Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil

Footer Subscribe

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese

Footer Video CTA

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all the new video lessons

Subscribe

https://youtu.be/xoNtWBolAzE

Footer Full CTA

Book a Trial Lesson today to get started.

Get Started Now

Footer CTA

Street Smart Brazil

  • About
  • Shop For a Portuguese Class
  • Testimonials
  • Blog

Portuguese Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese


Street Smart Brazil, LLC

phone 415.573.8180
email info@streetsmartbrazil.com
Oakland, California

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap

© 2014–2023 Street Smart Brazil, All Rights Reserved.