Breakdown of A sala de aula fica cheia quando a escola abre as portas.
Questions & Answers about A sala de aula fica cheia quando a escola abre as portas.
In Portuguese, sala de aula is a fixed expression meaning classroom.
- sala de aula literally: room of class / room for class → classroom
- de here works like “for/of (the type)”, not possession. It’s similar to:
- sala de espera = waiting room
- sala de jantar = dining room
sala da aula would sound like “the room of the (specific) lesson,” as if the class owns the room. That’s not how people refer to classrooms in Portuguese, so it sounds odd or wrong in this context.
- sala alone usually means living room (in a house) or just room in some contexts.
- sala de aula specifically means classroom, a room where lessons happen.
So A sala fica cheia could mean “The living room gets full,” while A sala de aula fica cheia clearly refers to a classroom at school.
ficar here means “to become / to get (into a state)”.
- A sala de aula fica cheia = The classroom gets/becomes full (change of state)
- A sala de aula é cheia = The classroom is full (as a permanent characteristic – sounds strange, like it’s always full)
- A sala de aula está cheia = The classroom is (currently) full (describing the present moment, not the process of getting full)
In this sentence, you’re describing what happens when the school opens: the classroom goes from not full → full, so fica cheia is the natural choice.
In Portuguese, adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun.
- sala is feminine singular: a sala
- so the adjective must also be feminine singular: cheia
Examples:
- O quarto fica cheio. (masculine: room)
- A sala fica cheia. (feminine: room)
- Os quartos ficam cheios. (masculine plural)
- As salas ficam cheias. (feminine plural)
Yes, you can.
- cheia = full
- lotada = packed, really crowded
Both are correct, but lotada often suggests very full or overcrowded:
- A sala de aula fica cheia = The classroom gets full.
- A sala de aula fica lotada = The classroom gets packed / crowded.
In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, lotada is very common when talking about buses, trains, classrooms, etc.
Both word orders are correct:
- A sala de aula fica cheia quando a escola abre as portas.
- Quando a escola abre as portas, a sala de aula fica cheia.
In Portuguese, putting the quando-clause first or second is mainly a matter of style and emphasis, just like in English:
- “The classroom gets full when the school opens the doors.”
- “When the school opens the doors, the classroom gets full.”
No change in meaning; both are natural.
Here the sentence is talking about a general, habitual fact, so the simple present is perfect:
- Quando a escola abre as portas, a sala de aula fica cheia.
= Whenever / each time the school opens its doors, the classroom gets full.
For general truths or routines, Portuguese uses the present tense, just like English:
- Quando chove, a rua alaga. = When it rains, the street floods.
When talking about a specific future event, Portuguese often uses the future subjunctive in the quando-clause:
- Quando a escola abrir as portas, a sala de aula vai ficar cheia.
= When the school opens its doors (that day), the classroom will get full.
So:
- abre → general/habitual
- abrir (future subjunctive) → specific future situation
In Portuguese, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (a, o, uma, um) unless there’s another determiner.
- a escola = the school (generic or specific, depending on context)
- escola alone usually appears in special structures: after some prepositions, in set expressions, or in titles like na escola, de escola pública, etc.
In this sentence the subject is a specific institution (“the school” that has this classroom), so you say A escola abre as portas. Dropping the article would sound unnatural.
Literally: “opens the doors”.
In Portuguese, plural as portas is very common in the idiomatic expression abrir as portas = to open (its/the) doors. It works just like English:
- “When the school opens its doors …”
- Quando a escola abre as portas …
You don’t need a possessive (suas portas) because it’s clear the doors belong to the school. The plural is just part of the natural expression.
Yes, you can say:
- Quando a escola abre suas portas…
It’s grammatically correct and means the same thing.
Nuance:
- abre as portas is slightly more neutral and more idiomatic.
- abre suas portas can sound a little more formal or “written,” or more emphatic that these are its own doors, like in promotional or ceremonial language.
In everyday speech, abre as portas is more common.
Portuguese doesn’t use possessive adjectives as often as English does when the owner is obvious from context.
- English needs “its”: “When the school opens its doors …”
- Portuguese can just use the article: Quando a escola abre as portas…
The subject a escola already tells you whose doors they are, so repeating the possessive is usually unnecessary. This happens a lot:
- Ele levantou a mão. = He raised his hand.
- Ela fechou os olhos. = She closed her eyes.
- quando = when / whenever (more general)
- assim que = as soon as (emphasizes immediacy)
So:
- Quando a escola abre as portas, a sala de aula fica cheia.
= When/whenever the school opens the doors, the classroom gets full. - Assim que a escola abre as portas, a sala de aula fica cheia.
= As soon as the school opens the doors, the classroom gets full.
Both are possible; assim que highlights that it happens right away.
In expressions like this, Portuguese often uses the singular to describe the type or purpose of something:
- sala de aula = classroom (room for class / for lessons)
- sala de jantar = dining room (room for dinner)
- sapato de futebol = football boot (shoe for football)
Using the plural (sala de aulas) is grammatically possible but sounds unnatural and is not the standard expression in Brazilian Portuguese. The fixed phrase is sala de aula.
You can, but there’s a nuance:
- A sala de aula fica cheia.
= The classroom becomes/get full. (focus on the resulting state) - A sala de aula enche.
= The classroom fills up. (focus more on the action of filling)
Both are correct. ficar cheio/cheia is more common and sounds a bit more neutral; encher is slightly more dynamic, describing the process of filling.
You’d use the imperfect for a repeated past situation:
- A sala de aula ficava cheia quando a escola abria as portas.
This describes a habitual or ongoing pattern in the past, similar to English “used to”:
- ficava cheia = used to get full / would get full
- abria as portas = used to open the doors / would open the doors
Spoken naturally in Brazilian Portuguese, sala de aula tends to link together:
- sala → SAH-lah
- de (unstressed) → often sounds like dji or just d → jee / ji
- aula → OW-lah (like “ow” in “cow” + la)
So together:
- sala de aula ≈ SAH-lah dji OW-lah
In fast speech it may almost sound like saladjiaula. The linking d + vowel is very typical in Brazilian Portuguese.
It’s neutral and perfectly appropriate in both spoken and written Brazilian Portuguese.
You could say it in:
- a conversation between students or teachers
- a school report or email
- a textbook or description of school routines
There’s nothing slangy or overly formal in the structure or vocabulary.