Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Do lado de fora, está muito frio hoje.

You use do lado de fora to specify that you mean the outside of some place you’re in (the house, the car, the building, etc.), not just “outside” in a very general sense. It’s a common, very natural expression in Brazilian Portuguese.

What does do stand for in do lado de fora?

do is a contraction of the preposition de + the definite article o:

de + o = do

So, very literally:

do lado de fora = de o lado de fora = “from the outside side / on the outside.”

You almost never say de o in normal speech; you always contract it to do.

Can I say just fora or lá fora instead of do lado de fora?

Yes, often you can:

Fora, está muito frio hoje. – Grammatically fine, but sounds a bit abrupt/odd in isolation.
Lá fora, está muito frio hoje. – Very natural: “Outside, it’s very cold today.”

Typical, very natural alternative sentences would be:

Lá fora está muito frio hoje.
Hoje está muito frio lá fora.

Differences in nuance:

do lado de fora: outside of where we are / where we’re talking about.
lá fora: “out there, outside” (very common, a bit more neutral and less “spatially technical” than do lado de fora).
fora alone is used, but more often in fixed expressions or with a clear context.

Is do lado de fora, está muito frio hoje the only correct word order?

No. Several orders are correct and natural:

Do lado de fora, está muito frio hoje.
Do lado de fora está muito frio hoje. (comma optional)
Está muito frio do lado de fora hoje.
Hoje está muito frio do lado de fora.
Hoje está muito frio lá fora.

They all mean the same. The differences are subtle and about emphasis:

Starting with Do lado de fora / Lá fora emphasizes the location first.
Starting with Hoje emphasizes today.
Starting with Está muito frio is closest to English rhythm: “It’s very cold (outside) today.”

Why is there a comma after do lado de fora?

The comma marks a fronted adverbial phrase (a phrase giving context: place, time, etc.):

Do lado de fora, (location)
está muito frio hoje. (main statement)

In Portuguese, when you move a time/place phrase to the beginning of the sentence, it’s very common (and usually recommended) to separate it with a comma:

Hoje, está muito frio.
Do lado de fora, está muito frio.

You’ll also see it without the comma in informal writing: Do lado de fora está muito frio hoje. That’s also acceptable.

Where is the subject of está? Why is there no ele (“he/it”)?

In Portuguese weather expressions, the verb is often impersonal—there is no explicit subject.

Está muito frio hoje. – Literally “Is very cold today.”
There is no ele. You don’t say Ele está muito frio hoje for the weather.

This is similar to English “It is raining”, where “it” doesn’t refer to any real thing.
Portuguese just drops that dummy subject entirely in many weather phrases.

Why is it frio (masculine) and not fria?

Here, frio is used as a masculine singular adjective in an impersonal weather expression:

Está frio.
Está muito frio hoje.

Since there is no concrete noun like a água (feminine) or a noite (feminine) being described, the default is typically masculine singular: frio.

You would use fria to agree with a feminine noun:

A água está fria. – “The water is cold.”
A noite está fria. – “The night is cold.”

Can I say É muito frio hoje instead of Está muito frio hoje?

Usually no, not for today’s weather.

Está muito frio hoje. – “It is very cold today.”
Temporary condition ➜ estar
É muito frio aqui no inverno. – “It is very cold here in the winter.”
General/characteristic fact ➜ ser

So:

Today’s / right now weather: estar → Está frio.
Usual climate / permanent or regular characteristic: ser → É frio.
(e.g., Porto Alegre é frio no inverno.)

Can I use faz instead of está for the weather, like Faz muito frio hoje?

Yes, this is very natural in Brazilian Portuguese:

Está muito frio hoje.
Faz muito frio hoje.

Both are common and correct.

Nuance:

Está muito frio – slightly more descriptive/“state” focused (“it is cold”).
Faz muito frio – a very standard set expression for talking about how the weather feels (“it’s very cold (out)”).

Is muito necessary? What’s the difference between Está frio and Está muito frio?

muito is just an intensifier:

Está frio. – “It’s cold.”
Está muito frio. – “It’s very cold / really cold.”

You can drop muito with no grammatical problem; you just weaken the intensity of the cold.

Can I move hoje to the beginning: Hoje, do lado de fora, está muito frio?

Yes. That’s grammatically correct:

Hoje, do lado de fora, está muito frio.

Other natural possibilities:

Hoje está muito frio do lado de fora.
Hoje está muito frio lá fora.

Moving hoje changes what you emphasize first (the time), but the meaning is the same.

When would I prefer na rua instead of do lado de fora or lá fora?

na rua = “on the street / in the street”
do lado de fora / lá fora = “outside (of here)”

Examples:

Na rua está muito frio hoje. – Specifically outside in the street (maybe compared to indoors, or to inside a car, etc.).
Lá fora está muito frio hoje. – Outside in general, not necessarily on the street itself.

Use na rua when you care that it’s the street (public outdoor space).
Use do lado de fora / lá fora when you mean outside vs. inside.

Is this sentence natural in Brazilian Portuguese, or is there a more common way to say it?

The sentence is correct and natural, but the most common everyday versions Brazilians might say are slightly simpler:

Lá fora está muito frio hoje.
Hoje está muito frio lá fora.
Está muito frio lá fora hoje.

Do lado de fora, está muito frio hoje. is fully natural, just a bit more explicitly spatial (“on the outside side”) and slightly more formal-sounding than lá fora in casual speech.

How do you pronounce do lado de fora and hoje in Brazilian Portuguese?

Approximate Brazilian pronunciation (General/Southeast):

do lado de fora → [du LA-do dji FO-ra]
- de often sounds like “dji” before a vowel: de fora → dji fora.
- Stress mainly on LA (lado) and FO (fora).
hoje → [O-zhi]
- The h is silent.
- The j sounds like the “s” in English “measure”: a soft /zh/ sound.
- One syllable: kind of like “OH-zhi”.