Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): No meu escritório, os funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana. - In my office, the employees have been working a lot this week.

No meu escritório, os funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana.

In my office, the employees have been working a lot this week.

Breakdown of No meu escritório, os funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana.

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Questions & Answers about No meu escritório, os funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana.

What does no mean in No meu escritório? Why not just em?

No is a contraction of em + o:

em = in / on / at
o = the (masculine singular)

So:

em + o escritório → no escritório = in the office

You can’t say em meu escritório in Brazilian Portuguese? You actually can, and it’s correct, but:

no meu escritório = more common, more natural
em meu escritório = a bit more formal / written

So No meu escritório literally means “In my office” (with the implied by the article: in the my office).

Why is it meu escritório and not minha escritório?

In Portuguese, possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the thing owned, not with the person:

escritório is a masculine noun (o escritório)
So we use the masculine possessive meu (my)

Patterns:

masculine singular: meu (my), teu, seu
feminine singular: minha, tua, sua

So:

meu escritório (my office) – masculine
minha casa (my house) – feminine

You choose meu/minha based on escritório/casa, not based on the gender of the speaker.

Why do we say os funcionários with os? In English we just say “employees”.

Portuguese uses definite articles (o, a, os, as) much more often than English.

Here:

os funcionários = the employees / the staff

In this sentence we’re talking about a specific, known group: the employees of my office. That’s why the definite article os is natural.

If you remove the article:

Funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana.
This is grammatical, but sounds more general or headline-like, as if you’re talking about employees in general, not specifically yours.

In everyday speech about your own team, os funcionários is the normal choice.

What’s the difference between funcionários and empregados or colaboradores?

All three can refer to people who work for a company, but there are nuances:

funcionário(s)
- Very common and neutral.
- Often “employee(s)” or “staff” in a business context.
empregado(s)
- Also “employee(s)”, but can sound a bit more old‑fashioned or refer to domestic workers (empregada doméstica, maid/housekeeper).
- In some contexts, it may feel less “corporate” than funcionário.
colaborador(es)
- Literally “collaborator(s)”.
- Very common in modern corporate/HR language, slightly euphemistic or “nice” business talk.

In your sentence, os funcionários is the most straightforward and neutral choice for “the employees (at my office)”.

Why is it têm trabalhado instead of estão trabalhando?

Both are present‑tense forms but they don’t mean exactly the same in Brazilian Portuguese:

têm trabalhado = ter (present) + past participle
- Focus: repeated / ongoing actions over a period.
- Suggests that over this week, they have repeatedly or consistently been working a lot.
- Often translated as “have been working” in English.
estão trabalhando = estar (present) + gerund
- Focus: what is happening right now / around now.
- More like English “are working”.

So:

Os funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana.
→ Over the course of this week, they’ve been working a lot (habitually/constantly).
Os funcionários estão trabalhando muito nesta semana.
→ This week, they are working a lot (emphasis on the current situation, more “present continuous”).

In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, ter + particípio (têm trabalhado) often implies repeated action over a time span, not just “finished experience” like English present perfect.

What’s the difference between tem and têm here?

They are different forms of the verb ter (to have):

tem (without accent) = 3rd person singular
- ele/ela/você tem (he/she/you have / has)
têm (with accent) = 3rd person plural
- eles/elas/vocês têm (they/you all have)

In your sentence:

Subject: os funcionários (they) → plural
So we must use têm: os funcionários têm trabalhado.

The accent marks the plural form in writing and often in careful pronunciation.

Why is trabalhado used, not trabalhando?

Different verb forms:

trabalhado = past participle of trabalhar
- Used with ter/haver to form compound tenses:
  - têm trabalhado = have been working / have worked (repeatedly)
trabalhando = gerund of trabalhar
- Used with estar:
  - estão trabalhando = are working

So:

têm trabalhado (ter + particípio) → a compound tense, similar to English “have been working” in this context.
estão trabalhando (estar + gerúndio) → progressive tense, similar to English “are working”.

You can’t mix them — you should not say têm trabalhando or estão trabalhado.

Why is muito not changed to muita or muitos here?

In têm trabalhado muito, muito is an adverb meaning a lot / very much. Adverbs in Portuguese are invariable: they do not change for gender or number.

Compare:

Eles têm trabalhado muito.
→ much / a lot (adverb, modifying the verb trabalhado)
Eles têm muitos trabalhos.
→ many (adjective, modifying the noun trabalhos → muitos agrees in number)

So:

As an adverb: muito (always muito)
As an adjective: muito / muita / muitos / muitas (agrees with the noun)

Here it’s an adverb, so it stays muito.

What exactly is nesta in nesta semana?

Nesta is a contraction:

em + esta → nesta

Breakdown:

em = in / on / at
esta = this (feminine singular)
semana = week (feminine)

So:

nesta semana = in this week / this week (with the preposition in merged into nesta)

Literally: “in this week”, but usually just translated as “this week” in English.

What’s the difference between nesta semana, esta semana, and essa semana?

All three are used in Brazilian Portuguese, but with slightly different status:

nesta semana
- em + esta semana → “in this week”
- Very correct and slightly more formal/standard.
- Good in writing and speech.
esta semana
- “this week”, without the em.
- Also correct and common, especially in speech.
- Often interchangeable with nesta semana in meaning.
essa semana
- Literally “that week”, but in Brazilian Portuguese, esse/essa are often used for “this” in everyday speech.
- Extremely common colloquial form for “this week”.

So in Brazil, people very often say:

Essa semana eu tenho trabalhado muito. (very natural)
Nesta semana eu tenho trabalhado muito. (a bit more careful / standard)

Your sentence uses nesta semana, which is clear and correct.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Os funcionários têm trabalhado muito no meu escritório nesta semana?

Word order in Portuguese is fairly flexible, especially with time and place expressions.

Your options:

No meu escritório, os funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana.
- Emphasis first on in my office (contrasting with other places).
Os funcionários têm trabalhado muito no meu escritório nesta semana.
- More neutral order: subject → verb → complements.
- Very natural in conversation.
Nesta semana, os funcionários têm trabalhado muito no meu escritório.
- Emphasis on this week.

All of these are grammatical. Moving no meu escritório or nesta semana mainly changes what you highlight, not the basic meaning.

Does No meu escritório, os funcionários têm trabalhado muito nesta semana sound natural in Brazil, or too formal?

It sounds natural and clear, slightly on the careful/neutral side. In everyday, informal speech, Brazilians might more often say something like:

Lá no meu escritório, o pessoal tem trabalhado muito essa semana.
- lá adds a conversational tone (“over there at my office”)
- o pessoal (“the staff / the guys / the people”) is more informal than os funcionários
- essa semana is more colloquial than nesta semana

Your original sentence is perfectly good, suitable for neutral conversation, writing, or formal contexts.