À noite o parque fica vazio.

At night the park becomes empty.

Breakdown of À noite o parque fica vazio.

• ficar: to become
• o parque: the park
• vazio: empty
• à noite: at night

Questions & Answers about À noite o parque fica vazio.

Why does à noite have an accent? What does à mean here?

The à here is a contraction of the preposition a (to/at) + the feminine article a (the) before noite (night).

• a (preposition) + a (article) → à
• Literally: à noite = a + a noite → “at the night” → at night

The accent (grave accent) marks this contraction, a phenomenon called crase in Portuguese.

Compare:

• À noite eu estudo. = At night I study. (preposition + article)
• A noite estava fria. = The night was cold. (just the article a, no preposition, so no accent)

Is à noite pronounced differently from a noite?

No. In Brazilian Portuguese, à noite and a noite are pronounced the same.

The accent only shows the grammatical contraction (preposition a + article a). Native speakers distinguish them by context and grammar, not by sound.

What is the difference between à noite, de noite, and na noite?

All three relate to “night,” but their usage differs:

• à noite – very common, neutral: “at night / in the evenings (generally)”

  • À noite o parque fica vazio. = At night the park gets empty.

• de noite – also very common in Brazil, very similar meaning to à noite, slightly more colloquial in feel:

  • De noite o parque fica vazio. = At night the park gets empty. (totally natural)

• na noite – literally “in the night,” usually refers to a specific night or the nightlife scene:

  • Na noite de Natal o parque ficou fechado. = On Christmas night the park was closed.
  • Ele trabalha na noite. = He works in nightlife (bars, clubs, etc.).

In your sentence, à noite and de noite are both fine; na noite would sound off unless you specify which night.

Why is it o parque and not just parque? Is the article necessary?

In Portuguese, the definite article (o, a, os, as) is used much more often than in English, even with general statements.

• O parque fica vazio à noite.
  Literally: The park gets empty at night.
  Meaning-wise: “The park” in general (the park we’re talking about).

Saying just Parque fica vazio à noite (no article) is not grammatical here. In standard sentences, countable singular nouns like parque almost always need a determiner (article, demonstrative, possessive, etc.).

Could I also say O parque fica vazio à noite instead of À noite o parque fica vazio? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both:

• À noite o parque fica vazio.
• O parque fica vazio à noite.

Both are natural and mean the same.

Putting À noite first slightly emphasizes the time (“At night, the park gets empty…”), while the second order is a bit more neutral. In writing, a comma is also fine: À noite, o parque fica vazio.

Why is it fica vazio and not é vazio or está vazio?

Ficar is often used as a linking verb meaning “to become / to get / to end up (in some state).”

• À noite o parque fica vazio.
  → At night the park gets / becomes / ends up empty (as a repeated pattern).

If you said:

• À noite o parque é vazio. – This sounds odd; ser suggests a permanent inherent characteristic (“the park is an empty kind of place at night”), which is not the usual idea.
• À noite o parque está vazio. – Grammatically correct, but feels more like a snapshot (“at night the park is (found) empty”), not so much the idea of “it gets empty as night falls.”

In everyday speech, fica vazio is the most natural choice for a recurring change of state like this.

What exactly does fica mean here? I thought ficar was “to stay” or “to be located.”

Ficar has several common uses. In this sentence it means “to end up / to become / to get (into a state).”

Main uses of ficar:

1. Change of state (as here):

   • O parque fica vazio. = The park gets/becomes empty.
   • Ele fica nervoso. = He gets nervous.

2. Location:

   • O parque fica longe. = The park is (located) far away.

3. Stay / remain:

   • Vou ficar em casa. = I’m going to stay at home.

So here it’s the “change of state” meaning.

Why is it vazio and not vazia? How does agreement work here?

In Portuguese, adjectives must agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe.

• parque is a masculine singular noun.
• So the adjective must also be masculine singular: vazio.

Patterns for this adjective:

• masculine singular: vazio (o parque vazio)
• feminine singular: vazia (a rua vazia)
• masculine plural: vazios (os parques vazios)
• feminine plural: vazias (as ruas vazias)

How would I say “At night the parks get empty” in the plural?

You would pluralize everything that needs plural:

• À noite os parques ficam vazios.
  
  • os parques = the parks
  • ficam = they get / become (3rd person plural)
  • vazios = empty (masculine plural, agreeing with parques)

Can à noite be used on its own as an answer, like “When? – At night.”?

Yes. You can use À noite by itself to answer a “when” question:

• Quando o parque fica vazio? – When does the park get empty?
• À noite. – At night.

This is perfectly natural in conversation.

Is it more natural in Brazil to say à noite or de noite in this kind of sentence?

Both are very common and sound natural in Brazil:

• À noite o parque fica vazio.
• De noite o parque fica vazio.

In casual spoken Brazilian Portuguese, de noite might be slightly more frequent, but à noite is also everyday language and maybe a bit more neutral or “bookish.” You can safely use either one.

Could I replace fica vazio with another expression like fica deserto or fica sem ninguém?

Yes, you can vary the expression while keeping the same structure:

• À noite o parque fica deserto. = At night the park gets deserted.
• À noite o parque fica sem ninguém. = At night the park ends up with nobody there.
• À noite o parque fica bem vazio. = At night the park gets really empty.

All of these are natural and convey a similar idea, with slightly different nuances of “emptiness.”