'It' Constructions in BR (Impersonal) | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

English is obsessed with subjects. Every English sentence needs one, so when there's no real subject, English invents a fake one: the dummy it. "It's raining" — but what is the it? Nothing. It's a grammatical placeholder, there only because English refuses to let a verb stand alone. "It's three o'clock," "It's hard to learn," "It seems they left." In every case the it points to nothing in the world. Brazilian Portuguese has no such word and no such requirement: when there is no subject, the verb simply stands by itself. For English speakers this is one of the single most stubborn transfer errors — the urge to translate it is almost reflexive. The cure is one rule: drop the it.

The core principle: Portuguese verbs don't need a subject

Portuguese conjugation already encodes person in the verb ending, so the language tolerates — and in impersonal sentences requires — sentences with no subject at all. Where English forces a it, Portuguese gives you a bare verb.

Está chovendo lá fora.

It's raining outside.

There is no word for it here, and there cannot be one. Está chovendo is a complete sentence. Adding any subject pronoun would be wrong.

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The rule that fixes 90% of these errors: delete the "it." Whenever you'd say "it" in English with no real referent, the Portuguese has nothing there. "It's raining" → Está chovendo. "It's late" → Está tarde. The slot is simply empty.

Weather

Weather is the classic case. Brazilian Portuguese uses two impersonal verbs — estar (with a gerund, for ongoing weather) and fazer (for general conditions) — both completely subjectless.

Faz muito calor no Rio em janeiro.

It's very hot in Rio in January.

Tá ventando muito hoje, segura o chapéu.

It's really windy today, hold onto your hat. (informal)

Choveu a noite inteira ontem.

It rained all night yesterday.

Note Faz calor (lit. "makes heat") — fazer is the impersonal weather verb, and like all impersonals it stays third-person singular. You never say Ele faz calor.

Time

Telling time is impersonal too — but here is a twist that trips up English speakers. English keeps the dummy it singular ("It's three o'clock"), but Portuguese has no dummy at all and the verb agrees with the hour. So one o'clock is singular (É uma hora) and other hours are plural (São três horas):

São três horas da tarde.

It's three o'clock in the afternoon.

É uma hora em ponto.

It's one o'clock on the dot.

Já é quase meia-noite, vamos dormir.

It's almost midnight, let's go to sleep.

The verb is plural são because the real subject is três horas — the hours. There is no it; the hours themselves are doing the work of the subject.

Distance and evaluations: bare é/está

For statements about distance, difficulty, importance, or any general evaluation, English uses "it is..." Portuguese uses bare é or está with nothing in front:

É longe daqui? Acho melhor pegar um Uber.

Is it far from here? I think we'd better get an Uber.

É difícil estudar com tanto barulho.

It's hard to study with so much noise.

É importante chegar cedo na entrevista.

It's important to arrive early at the interview.

Está frio aqui dentro, fecha a janela.

It's cold in here, close the window.

In É difícil estudar, the infinitive estudar is the logical subject ("to study is hard"), and é introduces the evaluation. There is no slot for it. This is the pattern behind countless everyday sentences: É bom..., É melhor..., É possível..., É verdade que....

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"It's [adjective] to [do something]" maps directly to É [adjetivo] [infinitivo], with nothing where the English "it" sits: "It's easy to get lost" → É fácil se perder. The infinitive is the real subject; the "it" was always fake.

"It seems" → parece que

English "it seems / it looks like" becomes parece que (or just parece). Again, no subject:

Parece que vai chover, o céu tá bem escuro.

It seems it's going to rain, the sky's really dark. (informal)

Parece que eles já foram embora.

It looks like they've already left.

"It's possible to..." → dá pra (informal) / é possível

A very common colloquial impersonal is dá pra (from dá para), meaning "it's possible to / you can":

Dá pra ver o pôr do sol daqui.

You can see the sunset from here. / It's possible to see...

Não dá pra entender nada com esse barulho.

It's impossible to understand anything with this noise. (informal)

The formal equivalent is É possível ver o pôr do sol daqui. Both are subjectless; dá pra is the everyday spoken version.

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Beware the false friend isto/isso/aquilo. These mean "this/that" and point to a real thing already in the conversation — they are not a translation of dummy "it." Use them only when "it" refers to something concrete ("I saw it" = Eu vi isso), never for weather, time, or evaluations.

Quick reference: English "it" → Portuguese nothing

English	Brazilian Portuguese	What replaces "it"
It's raining	Está chovendo	nothing
It's hot	Faz calor / Está calor	nothing
It's three o'clock	São três horas	verb agrees with "horas"
It's far	É longe	nothing
It's hard to study	É difícil estudar	the infinitive is the subject
It seems they left	Parece que saíram	nothing
It's possible to see	Dá pra ver / É possível ver	nothing

Common Mistakes

❌ Ele está chovendo.

Incorrect — invents a subject 'ele' to translate 'it'

✅ Está chovendo.

It's raining.

There is no dummy it in Portuguese. Ele means "he" and points to a real masculine referent — never to weather.

❌ Isso é difícil estudar aqui.

Incorrect — 'isso' is an unnecessary subject

✅ É difícil estudar aqui.

It's hard to study here.

Don't plug in isso ("this/that") to fill the English it slot. The infinitive estudar is already the subject.

❌ É uma hora? Não, é três horas.

Incorrect — verb must agree with plural 'horas'

✅ É uma hora? Não, são três horas.

Is it one o'clock? No, it's three.

The time verb agrees with the number of hours: singular é uma hora, plural são três horas.

❌ Faz muito calor ele hoje.

Incorrect — no subject pronoun in weather sentences

✅ Faz muito calor hoje.

It's very hot today.

Weather verbs (fazer, estar, chover) are strictly subjectless and stay third-person singular.

❌ It parece que eles foram embora.

Incorrect — no dummy subject before 'parece'

✅ Parece que eles foram embora.

It seems they left.

Parece que starts the clause directly — there is no place for any equivalent of it.

Key Takeaways

Brazilian Portuguese has no dummy "it." Whenever English uses it with no real referent, the Portuguese slot is empty.
Weather, time, distance, and evaluations all use bare, subjectless verbs.
Time verbs agree with the hour (é uma hora vs. são três horas), not with a fake singular it.
"It's [adj] to [verb]" = É [adj] [infinitivo] — the infinitive is the real subject.
Parece que (it seems) and dá pra (it's possible) are subjectless idioms; never prefix them with a pronoun.

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