CBP 1.21 | The weather – How to talk about the weather in Portuguese

Welcome back to another lesson of Coffee Break Portuguese! We’re now halfway through our 40-lesson course and in lesson 21 we are talking about the weather. We’ll be learning how to ask what the weather is like today and what it is going to be like tomorrow, how to answer these questions to describe various types of weather, and hear a weather forecast for Portugal in today’s Cafezinho com Catarina. We’ll also have a more in-depth look at one particular aspect of Portuguese grammar – the difference between the verbs ser and estar, which both translate as “to be”. Vamos lá!

CBGa 1.20 | End-of-unit review – The basics in Gaelic from Lessons 1–19

Let’s put everything we’ve learned so far to the test in this special episode marking the end of the first half of our Coffee Break Gaelic course! Listen to an extended conversation featuring key vocabulary covered over the past 19 lessons. We’ll be back soon with lesson 21!

CBP 1.20 | End-of-unit review – The basics in Portuguese from Lessons 1–19

We’ve reached lesson 20 of Coffee Break Portuguese, which marks the halfway point in our beginners’ course. In this episode we’re reviewing what we’ve learned throughout the first 19 lessons. We’ll be doing this by listening to a dialogue that incorporates many of the topics we’ve covered so far. We hope you enjoy seeing how much you’ve learned over the past 19 lessons and we’ll be back soon with lesson 21!

CBP 1.19 | Travelling by public transport

This lesson of Coffee Break Portuguese is all about travel. Join Rafael and Ava to learn the phrases you need to know when dealing with travel situations in a Portuguese-speaking country, including using public transport and buying travel tickets. We’ll also listen to a practice dialogue set in a train station and hear from Catarina in today’s Cafezinho com Catarina, in which she tells us a little more about the Azores.

CBGa 1.18 | What are you doing? – How to talk about what you are doing in Gaelic

Welcome back to another lesson of Coffee Break Gaelic! This time, Susanna and Mark are focusing on how to ask “what are you doing?” in Gaelic. By the end of this lesson, you’ll not only know how to ask this question, you’ll also be able to provide a range of answers. You’ll be one step closer to becoming a fluent Gaelic speaker!

CBP 1.18 | Understanding and giving directions – How to give directions in Portuguese

Welcome to lesson 18 of Coffee Break Portuguese! In this lesson we are talking about how to ask for directions and how to give directions in town. If you haven’t already listened to episode 8 of our course, we would recommend finding it wherever you’re listening to this episode, as we’ll be expanding on what we learned in that lesson. Vamos lá!

When to use ‘do’ and ‘make’ in English

Do you know when to use do and when to use make when you’re speaking English? This can be a difficult topic for English learners, because many languages just have one verb for do and make. In this episode of The Coffee Break English Show, we’ll do some work to help you avoid making mistakes with do and make.

The Coffee Break English Show is a podcast series of informal conversations to help you understand some difficult topics in English! In the latest episode, Josie and Mark talk about when to use do and make.

There are some rules to follow, but as Josie and Mark explain during the episode, the best way to learn when to use do and make is to learn some fixed expressions.

So, let’s get started and look at the rules and expressions with do and make. Continue reading to find out more, and why not listen to the podcast as you go!

Make

We use make when we create or produce something. The result is usually something that we can see and touch. Here are some examples:

make dinner
I’m making pasta for dinner tonight.

make lunch
Mark made a salad for lunch.

make breakfast
My grandma makes pancakes for breakfast on Sundays.

make a coffee
Would you like me to make you a coffee?

make clothes
My brother makes his own clothes – he’s very creative.

make furniture
I made this table all by myself.

Do

We use do to describe actions. Let’s look at some examples:

do homework
The children are doing their homework.

do housework (e.g. do the laundry, do the dishes)
I don’t like doing housework.

do something
I’m bored – let’s do something fun!

do anything
Did you do anything yesterday evening?

do nothing
He loves doing nothing on Sunday mornings.

Fixed expressions with ‘make’

As we mentioned before, the best way to learn when to use make and do is to learn some fixed expressions. Here are five fixed expressions with make:

make a mistake
When you’re learning a language, you often make mistakes.

make friends
I made all my best friends at university.

make a decision
We need to make a decision about where to go on holiday this summer.

make plans
Have you made plans for the weekend yet?

make a mess
Please try not to make a mess in the kitchen!

Fixed expressions with ‘do’

Now you’ve seen some expressions with make, here are five fixed expressions with do:

do your hair / make-up
It usually takes her 10 minutes to do her hair in the morning.

do an exam
I did an exam yesterday, and I passed!  

do exercise / sport
Do you usually do exercise in the morning or in the evening?

do the shopping
I’m going to the supermarket to do the shopping.

do research
She is doing research for her PhD at the moment.

Remember, there are many more expressions with make and do. It’s a good idea to make a list when you see or hear a new expression, to help you remember it.

Let’s review

If you found this post interesting, make sure you listen to the full podcast episode with Mark and Josie on The Coffee Break English Show. We will release more episodes soon, about some more useful topics! Subscribe to our podcast feed and our channel on YouTube to learn when the next episode is available.

Plus! To get regular free English lessons in your inbox, you can sign up for our email lessons. We regularly send short (coffee-break-sized) email lessons that will help you improve your English. You will also hear from Mark, the founder of Coffee Break Languages, giving advice for language learners at any level. Sign up below!

So, keep practising make and do! Remember that all English learners make mistakes, but people can usually still understand you. It’s all part of the language-learning journey. Why not make a coffee now and do some more research about make and do?

Happy Coffee Breaking!

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Converse in Italian like a native: choosing ‘tu’ or ‘Lei’

When you speak Italian, formality is more than just a grammatical nuance – it’s a cultural code that reflects our relationships and social contexts.

The Coffee Break Italian Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations in which we demystify tricky Italian language topics. In the latest episode, Mark and Francesca delve into the fascinating world of Italian formality and how to address people, choosing between tu and Lei.

This can be difficult at times, but don’t worry! Francesca and Mark share some tips – whether you want to talk to a friend, a relative, a doctor, or even the president of Italy.

Continue reading to find out more, and why not enjoy the podcast episode as you go?

Formality in Italian

Formality, in the context of the Italian language, hinges on the choice between tu and Lei – the two ways of addressing someone as “you”. This affects not just pronouns but verb conjugations as well, and choosing between tu and Lei involves recognising the nature of the situation and whether it is most appropriate to sound informal or formal.

In terms of which form of the verb to use:

tu is used in the second person singular form of the verb, for example 
tu canti (“you (informal) sing”), 
tu apri (“you (informal) open”)

Lei is used in the third person singular form of the verb, for example 
Lei canta (“you (formal) sing”), 
Lei apre (“you (formal) open”)

You might notice that Lei shares its written form with the third person singular pronoun lei (“she”), however it starts with a capital letter.

The plural you

The plural form of address is voi for both informal and formal contexts. For example:

Bambini, volete del gelato?
Children, would you like some ice cream?

Come posso aiutarvi, signori?
How can I help you, gentlemen?

A very formal plural form of address, Loro, is usually reserved for extremely formal situations, such as high-end establishments like luxury hotels.

Loro sono i signori Verdi?
Are you Mr and Mrs Verdi?

Loro voglio accomodarsi?
Would you like to take a seat?

Decoding the scenarios

  1. Strangers

    Imagine you’re meeting someone for the first time or you’re asking someone for information. In this case, the safer option is to use the formal form of address, Lei, unless the person is noticeably younger than you. Let’s say you want to catch their attention – you would say:

    Scusi!
    Excuse me! (formal)

    Scusa!
    Excuse me! (informal)

  2. Professional settings

    At workplaces or when addressing superiors, such as your boss, adopting the formal Lei is the norm. Similarly, in academic settings like schools and universities, people tend to use formal language when communicating with teachers and professors.

  3. Familiar territory

    Among friends and people you know well, the informal tu is the way to go. It conveys a sense of intimacy and familiarity.

 

Titles as indicators of formality

Formality often comes hand in hand with titles. Adding titles can be a clear sign of formality, for example:

Signore / Signora
Sir / Madam or Mr / Ms

Professore / Professoressa
Professor

Dottore / Dottoressa
Doctor

These titles show respect and set the tone for a formal conversation.

When to transition to ‘tu’

Sometimes, negotiating formality becomes an explicit conversation. The following phrases are all ways of transitioning to a more familiar or relaxed tone of conversation.

diamoci del tu
let’s use the tu form with each other (literally, “let’s give each other the tu form”)

dammi del tu
use the tu form with me (literally, “give me the tu form”)

non darmi del Lei
don’t use the Lei form with me (literally, “don’t give me the Lei form”)

Choosing between tu and Lei is a personal decision that, once made, tends to be stuck to within a conversation or even relationship (unless a transition like this happens).

Note that, while nowadays it is possible to notice a shift towards informality, the majority of Italians still prefer to use both tu and Lei, depending on the situation.

 

Regional variants

Sometimes geography plays a role in the choice of forms of address. In southern Italy, the tendency to replace Lei with voi is noticeable, echoing the French vous. For example:

Signor Turri, volete un caffè?
Mr Turri, would you like a coffee?

È tutto, signore e signori!

The choice between tu and Lei in Italian is more than just grammatical – it is also about social customs. Understanding these subtleties enables you to navigate various situations, whether chatting with friends, addressing your boss, or exploring the charming streets of Italy.

If you found this post interesting, make sure to listen to the full episode with Mark and Francesca on The Coffee Break Italian Show. This is the series in which we look at a range of topics for Italian learners, so make sure to subscribe to our podcast feed or our channel on YouTube.

Plus! To get regular free Italian lessons in your inbox, you can sign up for our short (coffee-break-sized) email lessons that will help you improve your Italian. You will also hear from Mark, the founder of Coffee Break Languages, giving advice for language learners at any level. Sign up below!

If you have conversations in Italian, the choice between tu and Lei is bound to come up sooner, rather than later. The best tip is not to stress about it. People will understand you are a learner, and the advice in this blog will give you a firm starting block.

Happy Coffee Breaking!

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CBP 1.00 | Introducing Coffee Break Portuguese

In this short introductory episode of Coffee Break Portuguese, teacher Rafael and learner Ava explain what’s to come in this series for beginners in Portuguese. We hear more about the types of topics that will be covered to help us when travelling to a place where Portuguese is spoken. We also get to know more about Rafael, Ava and Catarina and their language-learning backgrounds before learning about the term ‘Cafezinho’ and how this will be incorporated into our lessons.

New podcasts, new courses, a new platform and a new app!

We’re so excited to announce the latest developments from Coffee Break Languages. If you missed our live event, you can watch the replay here.

So, what did we announce in this biggest launch ever?

Coffee Break Swedish Travel Diaries

Following our Travel Diaries series in French, Spanish, German and Italian, we’re delighted to announce that Coffee Break Swedish will be returning in the new year with a 10-lesson course. We’ll follow the adventures of Mattias and his family as they travel down the west coast of Sweden. Click here for a sneak preview and to keep up with our developments.

Coffee Break Chinese Characters

Following on from Coffee Break Chinese Season 1, we’re working on a new course which will help you learn to recognise Chinese characters with a view to moving on to more advanced content. Click here to be kept up to date with our developments.

Coffee Break Communication Classes

Practise your speaking in small groups with a Coffee Break tutor! These six-week courses will be launching in 2023 and we’ll provide more information in the new year.


Il était une fois

Our new French audio and video course for advanced learners takes the form of a game show. Max and Pierre-Benoît challenge each other to write a story against the clock, and the course provides a transcript, video with subtitles and language development resources. Watch the demo video here.

Coffee Break Spanish Season 5 – La penúltima voluntad

Advanced learners can start following the story of Marta who has just been asked to attend the reading of her father’s will. In the 20 chapters of the story you’ll build your confidence in advanced Spanish. Click here for more information.

Coffee Break Gaelic

We’ll be launching a new course in Gaelic in 2023. Learn the basics of Scottish Gaelic with Susanna and Mark. This course will feature 40 lessons and will follow the structure of our previous Coffee Break courses. Find out more here.

Coffee Break Portuguese

Another new member of the Coffee Break family is our new course in Portuguese. You’ll learn to communicate with Portuguese speakers from around the world in our course, starting January 2023. Get a sneak preview and find out more here.


Coffee Break TV

And as if all that wasn’t enough, we’re delighted to announce an entirely new way to access your language learning…

Introducing Coffee Break TV: this new web platform and app will be the home for our new video resources, and we’ll be launching the first of these on Wednesday, the Coffee Break Club. Think of this as Netflix for Language Learners. We simply ask:

  1. What do you want to learn today?
  2. Which type of activity do you want to use?
  3. How long is your coffee break?

There’s something for everyone in the Coffee Break Club, available on Coffee Break TV from Wednesday 7th December. Join us live for the launch and get a preview of the types of content you can look forward to in the Club. There’s also a special introductory price, so make sure you tune in!

We hope you’re as excited as we are about these announcements and that you’ll have all the more opportunity to build your language skills on your Coffee Break!

CBI 3.01 | Direct object pronouns – Una vacanza studio a Siena

In this first episode of Coffee Break Italian Season 3, Francesca and Mark explain how Direct Object Pronouns work with simple verbs in the present tense. You’ll hear an explanation of the grammar point, then listen to a dialogue in which John, a Scottish student of Italian, is in Siena to improve his language skills. He has a chat with his teacher of Italian about his language learning experience.

If you’d like to take advantage of bonus materials, lesson notes and a translation challenge, you can access the full Coffee Break Italian Season 3 course on the Coffee Break Academy.

CBE 1.01 | Rain in England, sun in Italy – Catriona’s holiday and the present tenses

Welcome to our new series which will help you improve your English. Episode 1 of Coffee Break English is about holidays, and our correspondent Catriona is on holiday in Italy. She compares Italy with her home town of Manchester in the UK. Join Coffee Break English teachers Josie and Mark who will help you understand all the English in this episode.

A year of language learning

While 2020 has probably not been the year we expected or planned, there has been one thing which many of us have had to do over the past 12 months more than ever before: we’ve adapted.

Simple things like communicating with the people closest to us have become more complicated, and many of you have told us how your in-person language classes have been cancelled or moved online. It has been difficult or, in many cases, impossible to travel to practise the languages we’re learning, but through live lessons and virtual travel experiences, we’ve adapted.

Now the good news: an ability to adapt is actually one of the most important attributes to have as a language learner.

Let’s imagine you’re reading a text book or listening to one of our podcasts. You hear a particular phrase or expression which doesn’t quite fit what you want to say. You need to be able to adapt that phrase to fit your situation. This often involves changing certain words, the tense of the verb or adjective agreements. You’re adapting the example to fit your needs.

When we do eventually get the chance to travel again and can put our learning into practice, we are likely to be faced with the scenario when we don’t know a particular word, just when we need it. Again, that’s when we need to adapt, and reword things using words we do know.

Hopefully then, the fact that we’re all experts at adapting after this year means we’re better language learners!

Of course, here at Coffee Break Languages we’ve had to adapt too, but we’ve tried our best to bring you high quality language-learning materials throughout the year with all members of the Coffee Break team working remotely. We’ve missed working in the office and in our recording studio, but hopefully it won’t be too long before we can return there.

Month by month

We launched a brand new Coffee Break language back in January with episode 1 of Coffee Break Swedish. Mark also challenged Pierre-Benoît to learn a poem in Scots for a special Burns Day video.

We travelled to Francesca’s village, Pettinengo, in a video we released back in February, and we also started a new “Question of the week” series on Instagram.

As things began to change in March we wanted to make sure that learners in schools had access to materials which they could use to continue learning while at home. Our Learn at Home page was accessed by tens of thousands of parents and teachers around the world. We also held a special lockdown concert for World Piano Day in which Mark was joined by other members of the Coffee Break team for some multilingual songs.

Despite having to rethink our recording processes completely, with no access to the studio, we launched a brand new course in April, Aprende inglés con Coffee Break English, aimed at Spanish-speaking learners of English. We also started broadcasting our first live lessons on Facebook in French, German, Spanish and Italian in April and the Coffee Break Community have been enjoying participating from home and practising reading and listening skills.

In May, with learners in many places around the world at home, we decided to put together some tips for how to learn a language in lockdown. Hopefully Mark’s suggestions came in useful! Of course, our ongoing lessons continued throughout this period, with episodes of Coffee Break Swedish, Coffee Break English and our Coffee Break Spanish Magazine being published regularly, along with blog articles introducing members of the Coffee Break team and the community.

May also saw the culmination of a special project which brought the community together for the Coffee Break Choir. Over 100 learners sang the famous Nat King Cole song L-O-V-E in five languages and were joined by the Coffee Break team for this historic multilingual video!

“The truth was out” in June with the release of our advanced course for French learners, La Vérité éclate toujours. We also released new series of our popular video series Coffee Break German and Spanish To Go.

As language-learners, most of us love travelling and discovering new places, but it soon became clear that that was not going to be easy this year. We started to look at new ways to experience travel from the safety of home and came up with the Coffee Break Travel Diaries which launched in French and Italian in June. We joined Giulia and Paolo virtually as they travelled through Tuscany, while Lara and Noah took the train through the south of France. The Travel Diaries series gave us the opportunity to discover new places, follow the story of our characters and improve our language skills at the same time!

In July we launched Coffee Break Conversations, a new podcast which focused on “conversations about life, learning and languages”. The launch episode featured CBI host Francesca, and later episodes included conversations with Coffee Break learners and some well-known faces in the world of language learning and teaching.

The Coffee Break German and Spanish Travel Diaries began in August and we started following Karin and her family through the German Alpenstraße, while Victoria and Abel headed to the north of Spain for their honeymoon.

In September we continued to publish episodes of Coffee Break Swedish, La Vérité éclate toujours, Coffee Break German and Spanish Travel Diaries and we also released a video shot in Salamanca while we were making our CBS To Go series.

In addition to new seasons of Coffee Break French and Italian To Go (for the first time with extended podcasts) which launched in October, we also answered a question many listeners often ask: how many languages does Mark speak? Watch the video to find out!

One of our most popular posts on Instagram was a special video we put together for World Hello Day in November in which our entire team shared their “hellos”. In addition our live lessons continued on Facebook and YouTube, with thousands of learners taking part each week to practise their language skills.

And so we’re now in December and all this month we’ve been publishing newly updated Festive Phrases videos in which you’ll learn to send festive greetings to over 3 billion people around the world in 25 languages. The Festive Phrases series has been used in thousands of schools worldwide and we’re delighted to have released an updated version this year. December also saw the return of Coffee Break English and we launched Kulturhörnan, a mini-series of podcast episodes on Swedish culture in our mid-season break from the normal Coffee Break Swedish lessons. This month our Coffee Break French and Spanish Masterclasses are coming to an end, so we hope that the students in this year’s cohort have enjoyed their experience!

To round off a year of language-learning in a suitable festive way, Mark and the team put together a seasonal multilingual singalong concert on Sunday, so feel free to join them and hear Pierre-Benoît sing White Christmas in French and English, and Mark sing Winter Wonderland in six languages!

The year in numbers

We always like to have a look at the numbers at the end of the year, and despite everything that 2020 has thrown at us all, we’ve been busy! We published 145 podcast episodes, 114 videos on our YouTube channel and we delivered 68 live lessons over the course of the year.

We delivered 28.7 million free language lessons, meaning that every 1.07 seconds someone, somewhere started a new Coffee Break with us, and in our Coffee Break Academy, students completed over 300,000 learning sessions.

What’s next?

We’re already excited about a whole new year of language-learning in 2021 and we have some exciting plans that we’re looking forward to sharing with you. We’ll be starting the year with a brand new series of Coffee Break Travel Diaries in French, German, Spanish and Italian, and our live lessons will return in the new year.

La Vérité éclate toujours, Coffee Break Swedish and Aprende inglés con Coffee Break English will continue, but we’ll also be extending our Coffee Break English content to appeal to learners of English everywhere.

In addition to all of this, we have some other exciting projects which we’ll keep under wraps for now, but we’re sure that you’ll continue to enjoy learning with our range of materials next year.