Breakdown of As crianças gostam de brincar no quintal quando o tempo está quente.
Questions & Answers about As crianças gostam de brincar no quintal quando o tempo está quente.
In Brazilian Portuguese, definite articles (o, a, os, as) are used more often than in English, even with general statements.
- As crianças gostam de brincar... = Children like to play... (in general)
- Saying just crianças gostam de brincar... is possible, but it sounds more like you’re talking about “some children” or making a headline-style statement. It’s much less common in everyday speech.
So as crianças here means children in general, even though English drops the.
In Portuguese, the verb gostar almost always needs the preposition de before another verb or noun.
gostar de + infinitive:
- gostam de brincar = they like to play
- gosto de ler = I like to read
gostar de + noun:
- gostam de futebol = they like soccer
- gosto de chocolate = I like chocolate
Saying gostam brincar without de is incorrect in standard Portuguese. Think of gostar de as a fixed combination: gostar de [something].
The verb agrees with the subject:
- Subject: as crianças (they) → third person plural
- Verb: gostam (third person plural of gostar)
If the subject were singular, the verb would change:
- A criança gosta de brincar... = The child likes to play...
So:
as crianças → gostam
a criança → gosta
After gostar de, you must use the infinitive form of the verb:
- gostam de brincar (to play)
- gosto de correr (to run)
- gostamos de viajar (to travel)
In English we say “like to play” or “like playing”. That “to play / playing” idea is expressed by the infinitive in Portuguese: brincar.
Using brincam there (gostam de brincam) would be ungrammatical.
Brincar mainly means to play in the sense of children’s play or playful activities:
- As crianças gostam de brincar. = Children like to play.
- Eles estão brincando de esconde-esconde. = They are playing hide-and-seek.
For other meanings of “play” in English, Portuguese uses different verbs:
- Play a sport:
- jogar futebol = to play soccer
- jogar tênis = to play tennis
- Play an instrument:
- tocar violão = to play guitar
But in everyday talk about kids just playing around, brincar is the standard verb.
No is the contraction of the preposition em + the article o:
- em + o = no
- em + a = na
- em + os = nos
- em + as = nas
So no quintal literally is in the yard:
- no quintal = em o quintal = in the yard / in the backyard
In real Portuguese you almost never say em o; you always contract it to no.
Quintal is usually the backyard or yard area of a house (often not just grass, sometimes concrete, space for hanging laundry, a dog, barbecue, etc.).
Jardim is more like garden or front yard with plants and flowers.
- brincar no quintal = play in the yard/backyard
- cuidar do jardim = take care of the garden
In many Brazilian homes, especially in houses, quintal is the main outside space where children play.
It’s mostly a matter of nuance and context:
- no quintal = specifically the family’s yard/backyard area
- no jardim = in the garden (more plant/flower area)
- lá fora / fora de casa = outside (more general, not specifying where)
All could be possible in different sentences, but no quintal emphasizes the typical home outdoor space where kids play.
Quando functions as a subordinating conjunction meaning when, and it directly introduces the clause:
- quando o tempo está quente = when the weather is hot
Portuguese doesn’t need something like “when that” or “when then” here. The structure is:
- [Main clause] + quando + [subordinate clause]
- As crianças gostam de brincar no quintal quando o tempo está quente.
Same pattern as English “Children like to play in the yard when the weather is hot.”
In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, tempo commonly means weather:
- O tempo está quente. = The weather is hot.
- Como está o tempo hoje? = How’s the weather today?
Clima is usually more about climate in a broader or more technical sense:
- O clima do Brasil é tropical. = Brazil’s climate is tropical.
So for talking about today’s hot weather, tempo is the natural word.
Yes, very common:
- Está quente hoje. = It’s hot today.
- Quando está quente, as crianças brincam no quintal. = When it’s hot, the children play in the yard.
In the original sentence, o tempo makes it explicit that we’re talking about the weather, but it’s not strictly required.
The ser/estar distinction:
estar is used for temporary or changeable states:
- O tempo está quente. = The weather is (currently) hot.
- Ela está cansada. = She is (feeling) tired.
ser is more for permanent or defining characteristics:
- O clima aqui é quente. = The climate here is hot (in general).
- Ela é alta. = She is tall.
Weather on a given day is a changing condition, so está quente is the correct choice.
Portuguese follows the same basic word order as English for this structure:
- [subject] + [form of ser/estar] + [adjective]
- O tempo está quente. = The weather is hot.
Putting the adjective before the verb (quente está) would sound poetic, archaic, or just incorrect in normal speech. So you should keep está quente, not quente está.
With gostam de brincar, the simple present is describing a habitual action, not something happening at this exact moment:
- As crianças gostam de brincar no quintal quando o tempo está quente.
= In general, whenever it’s hot, children like playing in the yard.
To describe a specific moment, you’d normally use the present progressive:
- As crianças estão brincando no quintal. = The children are playing in the yard (right now).
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:
- gostam de brincar = they like to play
- adoram brincar = they love to play / they really like to play
Both are correct, but adorar is stronger, more enthusiastic than gostar de.