Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): No verão, nós sentamos na sombra do jardim para não sentir tanto calor. - In the summer, we sit in the shade of the garden so as not to feel so hot.

Just verão (without article) is possible in general statements like Verão é minha estação favorita (“Summer is my favorite season”), but when you mean “in summer” as a time expression, no verão is the most natural choice.

Why is there a comma after No verão? Is it mandatory?

The comma in No verão, nós sentamos… separates a fronted time expression (No verão) from the rest of the sentence.

It’s very common and stylistically recommended to use the comma when you put adverbial phrases of time, place, etc. at the beginning:
- De manhã, eu corro no parque.
- No verão, nós sentamos na sombra.
It’s not absolutely mandatory in all cases, especially when the initial phrase is very short, but most careful writing does use it here.

You could see No verão nós sentamos… without a comma, and it would not be “wrong”, but with the comma looks more natural in standard written Portuguese.

Do I have to say nós, or could I just say Sentamos na sombra do jardim…?

You can omit the subject pronoun nós:

No verão, sentamos na sombra do jardim…

Portuguese (especially Brazilian Portuguese) is a pro‑drop language, so the verb ending usually already tells you who the subject is. Sentamos can only be “we” (nós), so nós is not necessary for grammar.

Why use nós, then?

to emphasize “we” (as opposed to someone else)
to avoid ambiguity when different persons share a verb form (not the case with sentamos, but with other verbs it happens)
in spoken Brazilian Portuguese, people also often say a gente senta instead of nós sentamos (more colloquial).

So here:

No verão, (nós) sentamos na sombra… → Both are correct. The version with nós just sounds a bit more explicit / formal.

Does sentamos mean “we sit” or “we sat”? Why is it ambiguous?

In Portuguese, sentamos can be present or simple past (preterite), depending on context:

Present (nós)
- nós sentamos = we sit / we are sitting
Preterite (nós)
- nós sentamos = we sat (down)

So the same form is used for both tenses in the 1st person plural.

In your sentence, No verão, nós sentamos na sombra…, context makes it sound like a habitual present:

“In the summer, we (usually) sit in the shade…”

If you wanted to clearly refer to a specific past summer, you’d normally add a time expression:

No verão passado, nós sentamos na sombra do jardim…
Last summer, we sat in the garden’s shade…

Without a clear past marker, Brazilians will usually interpret it as a present habit.

Shouldn’t it be sentamo‑nos with a reflexive pronoun, since “sit down” is reflexive in Portuguese?

The verb sentar in Portuguese has a reflexive form:

sentar-se = to sit down (oneself)

Formally, you might see:

Nós sentamo‑nos.
Nós vamos sentar‑nos.

However, in Brazilian Portuguese, speakers very often drop the reflexive pronoun in everyday speech, especially with sentar:

Nós sentamos. (spoken, very normal)
A gente sentou.

So in Brazil:

Nós sentamos na sombra do jardim.
= (perfectly natural) “We sit / we sat in the garden’s shade.”

The fully reflexive form sentamo‑nos sounds bookish / European / very formal to Brazilian ears in everyday contexts. For learning Brazilian Portuguese, it’s enough to know that sentar‑se exists, but you will mostly hear sentar without -se.

What exactly does na sombra do jardim mean? Why na, and what’s the role of do?

na sombra do jardim breaks down as:

na = em (in) + a (the, feminine) → na
sombra = shade
do = de (of) + o (the, masculine) → do
jardim = garden

So literally:

na sombra do jardim = in the shade of the garden
= “in the garden’s shade / in the shade in the garden”

Details:

na (em + a) is the normal way to say “in the” for a feminine noun (sombra). You cannot say em a sombra; it must contract to na sombra.
do jardim marks a kind of possession/origin: the shade of the garden (the shade that belongs to or is created by the garden’s trees, walls, etc.).

Compare:

no jardim = in the garden
na sombra do jardim = in the garden’s shade (more specific area)

Could we say à sombra do jardim instead of na sombra do jardim? Is there a difference?

Yes, à sombra do jardim is also correct, and you will see it in both Brazilian and European Portuguese.

na sombra do jardim = literally “in the shade of the garden”
à sombra do jardim = literally “at / under the shade of the garden”

In practice:

Both often translate as “in the shade of the garden”.
À sombra has a slightly more literary / picturesque flavor in many contexts (you might see it a lot in descriptions, ads, or literature).
Na sombra sounds a bit more plain and neutral.

In everyday Brazilian speech, na sombra do jardim is very natural and perhaps more common, but à sombra do jardim is absolutely fine and idiomatic.

Why is it para não sentir tanto calor and not para não sentimos tanto calor or para não sentimos?

After para when expressing purpose, Portuguese normally uses the infinitive:

para + infinitive = in order to… / to…
para não sentir = in order not to feel / to not feel

So:

para não sentir tanto calor
= “(in order) not to feel so much heat / to not feel so hot.”

You cannot say:

❌ para não sentimos (mixes para
- infinitive pattern with a conjugated verb)

Correct possibilities:

Impersonal infinitive (generic or context-based subject)
- para não sentir tanto calor
  Often understood as “so that we don’t feel so hot,” from context.
Personal infinitive (explicit “we”)
- para não sentirmos tanto calor
  = literally “so that we (may) not feel so much heat.”
  This is also correct and a bit more explicit about the subject.

Your original sentence uses option (1), which is very common and natural in everyday speech.

What’s the difference between tanto calor and tão calor? Why is tanto used here?

In Portuguese:

tão is used before adjectives and adverbs → “so”
tanto is used before nouns and sometimes before verbs → “so much / so many / such”

Examples:

tão quente = so hot (quente is an adjective)
tão caro = so expensive
tão rápido = so fast
tanto calor = so much heat (calor is a noun)
tanto dinheiro = so much money
tanta gente = so many people

So:

não sentir tanto calor = not feel so much heat / not feel so hot

tão calor is incorrect; you must say:

tanto calor (noun: calor)
or tão quente (adjective: quente)

Both can describe how hot it feels, but grammatically they follow different patterns.

Why use calor (a noun) instead of an adjective like quente? How do I say “I’m hot” in Portuguese?

Portuguese often uses the noun calor (“heat”) together with verbs like sentir (“to feel”) or estar com (“to be with / to have”), where English would use “hot” (an adjective).

Common patterns:

sentir calor
- Estou sentindo calor. = I’m feeling hot.
estar com calor
- Estou com calor. = I’m hot.
Weather expressions:
- Está calor. = It is hot (weather).
- Faz calor. = It’s hot (lit. “It makes heat.”)

Using quente:

Está quente. = It’s hot (the weather / something is hot).
A água está quente. = The water is hot.

In your sentence:

para não sentir tanto calor = “so as not to feel so much heat / not to feel so hot.”

You could also say:

para não ficar com tanto calor
para não ficar tão quente (but this usually describes the body being hot, more physical temperature image).

But sentir calor is a very standard and natural way to express “feel hot.”

Why is não placed before sentir? Could we say “para sentir não tanto calor”?

In Portuguese, the basic rule is:

não goes before the verb (or before the infinitive):

Correct:

não sentir = not feel
não sentimos = we do not feel
não quero = I don’t want

Incorrect:

❌ sentir não tanto calor
❌ querer não isto

So the only natural placement here is:

para não sentir tanto calor

If you want to modify the amount, you could say:

para sentir menos calor = in order to feel less heat
para não sentir tanto calor assim = in order not to feel that much heat.

But não must stay before the verb form it negates.

Is there any difference between para não sentir tanto calor and pra não sentir tanto calor?

Grammatically, para and pra are the same preposition (for / in order to / to). The difference is mainly register:

para = more formal / standard written
pra = very common in informal spoken Brazilian Portuguese and also appears in casual writing (messages, chats, songs)

So:

para não sentir tanto calor (neutral, standard)
pra não sentir tanto calor (informal, very natural in speech)

Both mean exactly the same: “in order not to feel so much heat / to not feel so hot.”

How do you pronounce verão and não? What sound is that “ão”?

Both verão and não end with the nasal diphthong ão, a very characteristic Portuguese sound.

Approximate Brazilian pronunciation:

verão ≈ veh‑RÃW
- stress on the second syllable: ve‑rão
não ≈ NÃW

About ão:

It’s a nasal sound, roughly like “ow” in now but with the vowel nasalized.
You don’t pronounce a clear final m/n; instead, the vowel itself becomes nasal.

Very rough English approximations (not exact):

verão ≈ “veh-ROW̃” (nasal “row”)
não ≈ “now̃” (nasal “now”)

Listening to native speakers say words like não, verão, pão, irmão will help you get the feel of this nasal diphthong.