When to use it
Use it to say that you want to learn to cook the traditional food of a place, for example when looking for a cooking class on a trip.
The sentence in English — “I want to learn to cook traditional dishes.”
"I want to learn to cook traditional dishes" chains three verbs. "Want" is followed by "to learn", and "learn" is followed by "to cook". "Traditional" is an adjective before the noun "dishes", which is plural.
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- want
- verbwant · tense: present · person: first · number: singular · followed by "to" + verb
- to
- particleinfinitive marker before the verb
- learn
- verblearn · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "to"
- to
- particleinfinitive marker before the verb
- cook
- verbcook · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "to"
- traditional
- adjectiveadjective
- dishes
- nounplural noun; prepared food
The sentence in Portuguese — “Quero aprender a cozinhar pratos típicos.”
"Quero aprender a cozinhar pratos típicos" starts with "quero", the first person of "querer", without the subject "eu". "Aprender" takes the preposition "a" before the next verb, "cozinhar". "Pratos típicos" means typical dishes, with the adjective after the noun.
- Quero
- verbquerer · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: first · number: singular · "I want"
- aprender
- verbaprender · form: infinitive · "to learn"
- a
- prepositionpreposition linking "aprender" to the next verb: "to"
- cozinhar
- verbcozinhar · form: infinitive · "to cook"
- pratos
- nounmasculine plural noun: "dishes"
- típicos
- adjectiveadjective, masculine plural: "traditional", "typical"
English × Portuguese — What changes from one language to the other
English links the verbs with "to"; Portuguese uses nothing after "quero" and the preposition "a" after "aprender". The adjective comes after the noun in Portuguese and agrees with it in the plural, "típicos"; in English it stays the same.
Example conversation
— Quero aprender a cozinhar pratos típicos.
— I want to learn to cook traditional dishes.
— Tem uma aula de culinária aqui todo sábado.
— There's a cooking class here every Saturday.