Breakdown of Minha irmã gosta de usar um casaco azul quando faz frio.
Questions & Answers about Minha irmã gosta de usar um casaco azul quando faz frio.
In Portuguese, possessive adjectives (like meu/minha/meus/minhas) agree with the noun they modify, not with the person who owns it.
- Irmã is feminine singular → you must use minha.
- minha irmã = my sister
- Irmão is masculine singular → you use meu.
- meu irmão = my brother
So even if the speaker is a man, he still says minha irmã, because the possessive follows the gender and number of irmã, not of “me.”
Also, you might sometimes hear a minha irmã in Brazilian Portuguese. With close family members, Brazilians often drop the article (minha irmã), but a minha irmã is also grammatically correct.
Portuguese can drop subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context or from the verb ending. This is called a pro-drop language.
In this sentence the subject is already expressed as a noun phrase: Minha irmã. Because of that, adding ela would be redundant:
- Correct and natural:
- Minha irmã gosta de usar um casaco azul quando faz frio.
- Grammatically possible but odd / emphatic:
- Minha irmã, ela gosta de usar… (sounds like emphasis or an afterthought)
So you don’t need ela here; minha irmã is already the subject.
The verb gostar in Portuguese always takes the preposition de before another verb or a noun:
- gostar de + noun
- gosta de casacos = likes coats
- gostar de + infinitive verb
- gosta de usar = likes to wear / likes wearing
So:
- ✅ gosta de usar
- ❌ gosta usar (wrong in standard Portuguese)
Think of gostar de as a fixed chunk you should memorize together.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:
gosta de casacos azuis
- Focuses on what she likes in general: she likes blue coats as a type of clothing.
gosta de usar um casaco azul
- Focuses on what she likes to do: she likes to wear a blue coat (the action of wearing one when it’s cold).
Both are correct; they just emphasize different things (the object vs. the activity).
Both usar and vestir can relate to clothing, but they’re not used the same way:
usar = to use / to wear (more general)
- usar um casaco = to wear a coat
- Very commonly used for clothes, accessories, glasses, perfume, etc.
vestir = to put clothes on / to dress (more about the act of dressing)
- vestir um casaco = to put a coat on
- vestir-se = to get dressed
In the sentence, we’re talking about a habitual preference (she likes wearing a coat), not the physical act of putting it on at that moment, so usar is more natural:
- gosta de usar um casaco azul fits better than gosta de vestir um casaco azul in this context, though vestir wouldn’t be grammatically wrong.
In Portuguese, most adjectives come after the noun:
- um casaco azul = a blue coat
- uma casa grande = a big house
So the natural order is:
noun + adjective → casaco azul
Saying um azul casaco would sound wrong. There are some adjectives that can come before the noun (and may change nuance), but colors like azul almost always come after the noun.
Azul is an adjective. In Portuguese:
- Many adjectives have four forms (masc/fem, sing/plural):
- bonito, bonita, bonitos, bonitas
- But adjectives that end in -l (like azul) have:
- Singular: azul (same for masculine and feminine)
- Plural: azuis
So:
- um casaco azul (singular)
- dois casacos azuis (plural)
- uma blusa azul (feminine singular)
- duas blusas azuis (feminine plural)
In the sentence we have um casaco (singular), so we use azul in the singular form.
You can say gosta de usar casaco azul, and it’s understandable, but the nuance changes a bit:
gosta de usar um casaco azul
- Feels like a specific coat on those occasions: “a blue coat” (not defined which one, but think one coat at a time).
gosta de usar casaco azul (no article)
- Feels more generic: she likes wearing blue coat(s) as a style, in general.
- This article drop is more common in very informal speech or headlines.
In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, gosta de usar um casaco azul is the most natural version here.
Portuguese often talks about weather with the verb fazer in the third person singular:
- faz frio = it’s cold
- faz calor = it’s hot
- faz sol = it’s sunny
- faz vento = it’s windy
Literally, faz frio means “it makes cold,” but idiomatically it means “it’s cold” (the weather is cold).
You can also say:
- está frio = it is cold (right now, in this place)
É frio is more about a general, permanent characteristic:
- Aqui é frio no inverno. = It is (generally) cold here in winter.
In the sentence, we’re talking about times when the weather is cold, so quando faz frio is the most idiomatic expression.
Portuguese simple present covers both:
- English simple present:
- She likes, it is cold
- And many cases where English uses present progressive:
- She is liking (rare in English but still progressive), it is getting / is being cold
So:
Minha irmã gosta…
- Means a habitual preference: “My sister likes…”
quando faz frio
- Means whenever it is cold / when it gets cold, in general.
Portuguese doesn’t use a continuous form (está gostando) for stable likes/dislikes. Está gostando would mean “is currently enjoying” (temporary), which isn’t the idea here.
Yes. Both word orders are correct:
- Minha irmã gosta de usar um casaco azul quando faz frio.
- Quando faz frio, minha irmã gosta de usar um casaco azul.
Putting quando faz frio at the beginning can slightly emphasize the condition (“When it’s cold…”), but grammatically both are fine and natural.
You have a few options, depending on what you want to emphasize:
Emphasize the type of clothing (blue coats in general):
- Minha irmã gosta de casacos azuis quando faz frio.
- My sister likes blue coats when it’s cold.
- Minha irmã gosta de casacos azuis quando faz frio.
Emphasize the action of wearing them, in general:
- Minha irmã gosta de usar casacos azuis quando faz frio.
- My sister likes to wear blue coats when it’s cold.
- Minha irmã gosta de usar casacos azuis quando faz frio.
Both are correct; you just pluralize casaco to casacos and azul to azuis to match.