Word
Quando o céu está azul, eu gosto de caminhar na cidade.
Meaning
When the sky is blue, I like to walk in the city.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Breakdown of Quando o céu está azul, eu gosto de caminhar na cidade.
eu
I
gostar de
to like
estar
to be
caminhar
to walk
Questions & Answers about Quando o céu está azul, eu gosto de caminhar na cidade.
Why is it “está” and not “é” in “o céu está azul”?
Portuguese has two verbs for “to be”: ser and estar.
- estar is used for temporary states or conditions (how something is at this moment).
- ser is used for permanent characteristics, identity, definitions.
“O céu está azul” = The sky is (currently) blue – it can change later (cloudy, gray, etc.), so it’s seen as a temporary state, so you use está.
If you said “O céu é azul”, it would sound like you’re describing an inherent fact about the sky (more like “the sky is blue (by nature)”), which is less natural in this context.
Why do we say “gosto DE caminhar” and not just “gosto caminhar”?
In Portuguese, the verb gostar (to like) is almost always followed by the preposition de:
- gostar de + noun:
- Eu gosto de música. = I like music.
- gostar de + infinitive (verb):
- Eu gosto de caminhar. = I like to walk.
So “gosto caminhar” is incorrect. You must say “gosto de caminhar”.
Why is it and not ?