Eu vivo em um lugar sujo, então prefiro passar minhas férias em um ambiente limpo.

I live in a dirty place, so I prefer to spend my vacation in a clean environment.

Breakdown of Eu vivo em um lugar sujo, então prefiro passar minhas férias em um ambiente limpo.

• eu: I
• um: a
• em: in
• preferir: to prefer
• então: so
• o lugar: the place
• limpo: clean
• viver: to live
• sujo: dirty
• passar: to spend
• minhas: my
• as férias: the vacation
• o ambiente: the environment

Questions & Answers about Eu vivo em um lugar sujo, então prefiro passar minhas férias em um ambiente limpo.

What is the difference between vivo and moro in Portuguese?

Both vivo and moro can mean "I live," but they carry slightly different nuances. Vivo can emphasize the state or condition of living somewhere and can also mean "to be alive," while moro often focuses more on the idea of dwelling or residing in a place. In everyday conversation, Brazilians use moro very frequently to talk about where they live, but vivo is still perfectly correct.

Why is it em um lugar instead of no lugar?

You use em um (in an) to express an indefinite place, meaning you haven't specified which place exactly (here, it's just known that it is a dirty place). If you said no lugar, it would imply a specific known place: “in the place.” Since the speaker is not referencing a previously identified location but rather describing it in a general sense, em um lugar fits better.

Why does the sentence use então? Could I use por isso?

Both então and por isso indicate a consequence or result, but então is more colloquial and often acts as a connector meaning “so” or “then.” Por isso translates roughly to “because of that” or “therefore,” which is slightly more formal, but in context they can be interchangeable.

Why do we say passar minhas férias?

In Portuguese, you generally use the verb passar with férias when talking about spending or passing your vacation time somewhere. Think of passar as férias like “to spend your holidays” in English. Another verb you might see is tirar férias, which means “to take a vacation,” but once you’re describing where you spend it, you go back to passar as férias.

What does em um ambiente limpo emphasize?

Saying em um ambiente limpo emphasizes the general context of cleanliness. It highlights that you prefer a clean environment (presumably any clean environment) rather than a specific clean place. If you used em o ambiente limpo or no ambiente limpo, it might imply a particular environment you’ve referred to before.