Breakdown of Nós estamos assistindo à mesma série, mas em momentos diferentes.
Questions & Answers about Nós estamos assistindo à mesma série, mas em momentos diferentes.
Both forms exist, but they express time/aspect differently.
Nós estamos assistindo à mesma série
= We are watching the same series (right now / during this period).Nós assistimos à mesma série
= Literally We watch the same series.
In Brazilian Portuguese this is usually:- a habit: “We (regularly) watch the same series.”
- or a general fact, not necessarily happening at this very moment.
Brazilian Portuguese uses estar + gerúndio (e.g. estamos assistindo) a lot to express an action in progress, very similar to English “to be + -ing”.
So, to match English “We are watching the same series.”, nós estamos assistindo is the natural choice.
The à is a contraction (called crase in Portuguese) of:
- the preposition a (required by the verb assistir in this sense)
+ - the feminine definite article a (for a série, “the series”)
So:
assistir + a (prep.) + a (article) série → assistir à série
That’s why, in careful/standard writing, you get:
- assistindo à mesma série
You will see many Brazilians write assistindo a mesma série (without the accent), especially informally, but the grammatically “correct” form is à here.
In Brazilian Portuguese, when assistir means “to watch / to view”, it is traditionally:
- transitive indirect: assistir *a algo*
Examples:
- Assistimos ao filme. = We watched the movie.
- Ela está assistindo à série. = She is watching the series.
Other meanings of assistir use different patterns:
- assistir alguém = to assist/help someone (direct object, no preposition)
- O médico assistiu o paciente. = The doctor assisted the patient.
- assistir a can also mean “to attend (an event)”
- Assistimos ao show. = We attended the concert.
In everyday speech many Brazilians drop the a (“assistir o filme”), but textbooks and teachers usually teach assistir a as the “correct” structure for “to watch.”
Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct, but the meaning shifts slightly.
Nós estamos assistindo à mesma série...
Focuses on an ongoing action (we’re in the middle of watching it these days / this week / this season).Nós assistimos à mesma série...
Sounds more like:- a habit: “We (regularly) watch the same series,” or
- a fact about what we watch, without highlighting the “right now” feeling.
If you want to mirror English “We are (currently) watching the same series”, estamos assistindo is a closer match.
You don’t have to say nós. In Portuguese, the verb ending often shows the person:
- Estamos assistindo à mesma série, mas em momentos diferentes.
This is perfectly natural and common.
Also, in informal Brazilian Portuguese, people very often use a gente instead of nós:
- A gente está assistindo à mesma série, mas em momentos diferentes.
Note the change in the verb:
- nós estamos (1st person plural)
- a gente está (3rd person singular form, but meaning “we”)
Because série is a feminine noun in Portuguese.
Adjectives and related words must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.
- a série → feminine, singular
- so we use mesma → feminine, singular
Compare:
- o mesmo filme (masculine: filme)
- a mesma série (feminine: série)
So: mesma série is the correct agreement.
Both are grammatically correct:
- em momentos diferentes
- em diferentes momentos
The difference is very small and mostly about style / emphasis:
- em momentos diferentes (adjective after noun) is the most common and neutral order.
- em diferentes momentos (adjective before noun) can sound a bit more emphatic or literary, but it’s still fine in normal speech.
In this sentence, em momentos diferentes is the more natural, everyday choice.
Each adjective agrees with its own noun:
- mesma refers to série → a mesma série (singular noun, so singular adjective)
- diferentes refers to momentos → momentos diferentes (plural noun, so plural adjective)
Agreement works locally:
- a mesma série (singular + singular)
- momentos diferentes (plural + plural)
They don’t have to match each other, only their respective nouns.
Yes, and it’s very common.
- Estamos assistindo à mesma série...
- Estamos vendo a mesma série...
Both can mean “We are watching the same series...” in Brazilian Portuguese.
Some nuances:
- ver = “to see”, but commonly used as “to watch” TV, series, movies:
- Estou vendo um filme. = I’m watching a movie.
- assistir (a) = often feels a bit more formal or “correct” for “to watch,” but is also widely used in everyday speech.
So ver and assistir (a) overlap a lot when talking about watching shows or movies.
In Portuguese, when mas means “but” and connects two clauses, you normally put a comma before it, just like in English:
- Nós estamos assistindo à mesma série, mas em momentos diferentes.
You can think of it like:
- [Clause 1], mas [clause 2].
So the comma before mas in this sentence is standard punctuation.