O trânsito está lento hoje.

The traffic is slow today.

Breakdown of O trânsito está lento hoje.

• estar: to be
• hoje: today
• lento: slow
• o trânsito: the traffic

Questions & Answers about O trânsito está lento hoje.

Why is there a definite article O before trânsito? In English we just say “Traffic.”

In Portuguese, most nouns—even uncountable or abstract ones—take a definite article.

• O trânsito literally means “the traffic.”
• In English you can drop “the” (“Traffic is slow”), but in Portuguese you usually say o trânsito, not just trânsito (except in headlines or very informal contexts).

Why do we use está instead of é here?

Portuguese has two verbs “to be”: ser (é) and estar (está).

• Estar expresses temporary states or conditions.
• Ser expresses permanent traits or general facts.
  Since we’re talking about traffic being slow today (a temporary situation), we use está.
  (If you wanted to state a general fact—e.g. “Traffic in São Paulo is always slow”—you could say O trânsito em São Paulo é lento.)

What part of speech is lento, and why not lentamente?

• Lento is an adjective (“slow”).
• Lentamente is an adverb (“slowly”) and would normally modify a verb.
  In O trânsito está lento, lento describes the noun trânsito via the linking verb estar.
  If you used lentamente, you’d need a verb meaning “move,” e.g. O trânsito flui lentamente (“Traffic flows slowly”).

Can we use devagar instead of lento? What’s the difference?

• Devagar is primarily an adverb (“slowly”). You’d say andar/devagar (“to walk/drive slowly”).
• Lento is an adjective and pairs naturally with estar to describe a noun.
  Colloquially you might hear O trânsito está devagar hoje, but the textbook form is lento.
  If you really want to use devagar correctly, pick a verb: O trânsito anda devagar hoje or O trânsito flui devagar.

Why is there a circumflex accent on the â in trânsito?

Portuguese spelling rules require an accent when stress breaks the normal pattern or to show a closed vowel. In trânsito:

• Stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable (TRÂN-si-to).
• The circumflex (â) marks a closed nasal vowel /ɐ̃/.
  Without it, you’d misplace the stress and vowel quality.

How do you pronounce trânsito?

IPA (Brazilian): /ˈtɾɐ̃.zĩ.tu/
Approximation in English: “TRAN-zin-too,” with:

• A nasal “ã” in the first syllable (like “trahn”).
• A “z” sound in the second syllable.
  Note: In some regions ti before i is pronounced [tʃ], giving “trahn-CHEEN-too,” but /t/ is standard.

Where can hoje (“today”) be placed in the sentence?

Portuguese word order is flexible for adverbs of time. You can say:

1. Hoje o trânsito está lento. (emphatic “today”)
2. O trânsito está lento hoje. (neutral)
3. O trânsito hoje está lento. (mild emphasis on “traffic”)
   You may add a comma after Hoje when it starts the sentence, but it’s not mandatory.

What’s the difference between trânsito and tráfego?

• Trânsito usually refers to road traffic (cars, buses, etc.).
• Tráfego is more formal and covers broader contexts—e.g. tráfego aéreo (air traffic), tráfego de dados (data traffic).
  You’d normally speak of o trânsito de carros rather than o tráfego de carros.

Can we drop the article O in headlines or informal speech?

Yes. In headlines, SMS or very colloquial contexts you often see:

• Trânsito está lento hoje em SP
  This is a telegraphic style. In complete, neutral sentences, include the article: O trânsito está lento hoje.

Could we use another verb like andar to express the same idea?

Absolutely. Andar can serve as a copular verb indicating a temporary state:

• O trânsito anda lento hoje.
  This is common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese and conveys the same meaning as estar in this context.