Advérbios de tempoAdverbs of time can tell us when, how often, or for how long an action happens. As with most other Portuguese adverbs, adverbs of time are always invariable.
In this lesson we’ll start with some of the most frequent adverbs of time in Portuguese, which are:
Quase
We dealt with quase in the previous lesson, as an adverb of degree, remember? Well, in the context of time, quase expresses the idea that something is about to happen or is almost starting/finishing, so the meaning is just slightly different. Notice how the preposition ato is used.
O João está quase a chegar.John is about to arrive.
Usually in these contexts you could also replace quase aalmost, about to with prestes aalmost, about to
Ainda
Ainda is the equivalent of still or yet in English.
Ainda estou à espera da minha mãe.I’m still waiting for my mum.
Ainda não vi esse filme.I haven’t seen that film yet.
Enfim
Enfim is similar to finally or at last in English. It is often used when you want to sound emphatic.
Enfim, estava a ver que nunca mais chegávamos!Finally, I thought we’d never arrive!
Enfim, ele voltou!At last, he’s back!
Agora
Agora is the equivalent of now in English.
Vamos para a aula agora.We’re going to class now.
Agora apetece-me uma bebida.Now I feel like having a drink.
Sempre
Sempre is the equivalent of always in English. Though when combined with que, sometimes the English word whenever is a better translation.
Aqui faz sempre sol.Here it is always sunny.
Nós dizemos sempre que nãoWe always say no
Vou à praia sempre que possoI go to the beach whenever I can
Are there any guidelines for placing “sempre” before or after the verb, or are both acceptable—or maybe it depends? For example: Ela canta sempre no banho VS Ela sempre canta no banho. Obrigado!
Both are acceptable, buuut it depends on the Portuguese variant. In European Portuguese, we prefer to place “sempre” after the verb, while Brazilian Portuguese is the opposite!
Why do you estava a ver for I thought? Thanks
Good question! It’s just an idiomatic way of phrasing that sentence. More literally it would be something like “I was seeing that never more we arrived”.
Olá. Fantastic app, thank you! I was able to get my head around “estava a ver”, but “chegávamos” is harder for me. Would “chegaríamos” also be correct with the rest of the sentence staying the same? Thanks.
Chegaríamos would also work in this particular sentence. However, chegávamos would be the most correct form to use.
Thank you Relógio. Is there a Learning Note or can you give a short explanation of why the preterite works here? It’s the “would” implied by “we’d” in “we’d” never arrive that makes the conditional feel right to me. Thanks again.
Indeed, the conditional would not be wrong to use in theory. As far as we know, the only reason why the imperfect is preferable is because ‘estava a ver que…’ is a specific idiomatic construction and this is the tense that got pretty much crystallized into it. This is a strictly casual idiom, and the use of the imperfect is aligned with our tendency to replace conditional forms with imperfect ones. That is briefly discussed in this Learning Note about the imperfect/past continuous: Past Continuous Tense | Practice Portuguese
What’s the difference between enfim and finalmente?
In the sense of “finally”, they are synonyms, with “enfim” sounding more formal, except in the expression “Até que enfim!” (Finally!), which can be used in a perfectly casual way.
“Enfim” also has an alternative use as a sort of “Oh well” or “Anyway”.
Thank you Joseph. That Learning Note answered the question I asked, as well as addressing several more that I had but didn’t ask. And as a bonus, reading the comments on it caused me to learn an English word I didn’t know too (periphrastic). Great stuff, thanks, keep it up!!
I am struggling when to use ‘a’ or ‘à’ in these sentences “quase a chegar” and “estou à espera”, is this because in the latter it’s actually “estou a+a espera” …? Obrigado pela explicação!
The rule of thumb in this type of constructions [estar + a + X] is to use ‘à’ if X is a noun and ‘a’ if X is a verb. For example:
– Estou a chegar (I’m arriving) / estou a dormir (I’m sleeping) / estás a falar (you’re talking)…
– Estou à espera (I’m waiting ~ lit. I’m on the wait for…) / Estou à procura (I’m searching ~ lit. I’m in search of…)/ Estou à porta (I’m at the door)…
Obrigado Joseph, entendi!