Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Hoje quase ninguém olha para o céu, porque todo mundo olha para o celular e não para as estrelas. - Today almost nobody looks at the sky, because everyone looks at their phone and not at the stars.

Hoje quase ninguém olha para o céu, porque todo mundo olha para o celular e não para as estrelas.

Today almost nobody looks at the sky, because everyone looks at their phone and not at the stars.

Breakdown of Hoje quase ninguém olha para o céu, porque todo mundo olha para o celular e não para as estrelas.

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Questions & Answers about Hoje quase ninguém olha para o céu, porque todo mundo olha para o celular e não para as estrelas.

In quase ninguém olha, why is ninguém treated as singular, and what does quase add?

Ninguém is an indefinite pronoun meaning nobody / no one. In Portuguese it always takes a 3rd‑person singular verb:

Ninguém olha. – Nobody looks.
Ninguém sabe. – Nobody knows.

So ninguém olha (not ninguém olham).

Quase means almost / nearly.
So:

ninguém olha = nobody looks
quase ninguém olha = almost nobody looks / hardly anyone looks

Dropping quase makes the statement stronger and more absolute.

Does hoje here mean literally "today" or more like "nowadays / these days"?

In this sentence hoje is best understood as nowadays / these days, not just "today".

Portuguese often uses hoje with this broader, more general meaning, especially when talking about habits or social changes:

Hoje as pessoas leem menos. – These days people read less.
Antigamente era diferente, hoje é assim. – In the past it was different; today / nowadays it’s like this.

So the idea is about the current era, not a single calendar day.

What is the difference between olhar, ver, and assistir, and why is it olha para o céu here?

olhar = to look (at), to direct your eyes intentionally
ver = to see, to perceive with your eyes (not necessarily intentional)
assistir (a) = to watch, usually for shows, movies, games

Examples:

Olho para o céu. – I look at the sky. (I choose to direct my eyes there.)
Vejo o céu da minha janela. – I see the sky from my window. (It’s visible.)
Assisto à TV. – I watch TV.

In the sentence, the idea is that people choose to look at something (sky vs phone), so olhar para is the natural verb.

Why do we need para in olhar para o céu? Could we just say olhar o céu?

With olhar, Portuguese usually uses a preposition (para, sometimes pra) when you mean look at:

olhar para o céu – to look at the sky
olhar para mim – to look at me

Olhar o céu is possible, but it sounds slightly different: more like to observe / examine the sky as an object, not just directing your gaze there. In everyday speech, olhar para o céu is the most common way to say "look at the sky" in this sense.

What exactly does para o mean, and how is it different from pro?

Para o = para (to / toward / at) + o (the, masculine singular):

para o céu – to the sky / at the sky
para o celular – at the phone / to the phone

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, para o is very often contracted to:

pro (informal spelling of para o)

So you’ll hear:

olha pro céu, olha pro celular

Meaning is the same; para o looks more standard/formal in writing, pro is very common in speech and informal text.

Can para be shortened to pra in this sentence, and is there any difference?

Yes. Brazilians very often say:

olha pra o céu → almost always pronounced olha pro céu
olha para o céu → pronounced close to olha pro céu in fast speech

Common informal variants:

pra o → pro
pra a → pra or pra a (often pra only)

So your sentence could sound like:

Hoje quase ninguém olha pro céu, porque todo mundo olha pro celular e não pras estrelas.

Meaning is the same. Para is more formal/neutral in writing; pra / pro / pras are very common in speech and informal writing.

Why is it porque here and not por que, por quê, or porquê?

Portuguese has four forms, with different uses:

porque (one word, no accent) – because (answer / explanation)
- Não saí porque estava cansado. – I didn’t go out because I was tired.
por que (two words, no accent) – why (in questions) or for which
- Por que você saiu? – Why did you leave?
por quê – why at the end of a sentence
- Você saiu por quê? – Why did you leave?
porquê (one word, with accent) – a noun meaning reason
- Não entendo o porquê. – I don’t understand the reason.

In your sentence, we’re giving a reason, so we need porque = because:

… olha para o céu, porque todo mundo olha para o celular…
= “… looks at the sky, because everybody looks at their phone…”

The expression todo mundo literally looks like “all the world”. Why does it mean “everybody”, and why is the verb singular (todo mundo olha)?

In Brazilian Portuguese:

todo mundo is a fixed expression meaning everybody / everyone.

Although it refers to many people, grammatically it behaves like a singular subject:

Todo mundo olha. – Everybody looks.
(Not todo mundo olham.)

This is similar to English everybody is (not everybody are).

Other examples:

Todo mundo sabe. – Everybody knows.
Todo mundo chegou. – Everybody arrived.

In olha para o celular e não para as estrelas, why isn’t olha repeated before não?

Portuguese often omits repeated verbs when the structure is clear from context. The full, non‑elliptical version would be:

…porque todo mundo olha para o celular e não olha para as estrelas.

Since olha would be the same verb, it’s natural (and more elegant) to drop the repetition and just say:

…olha para o celular e não para as estrelas.

The listener automatically understands “não [olha] para as estrelas”.

Why are definite articles used (o céu, o celular, as estrelas) when English might not always use “the”?

Portuguese uses definite articles more frequently than English, especially with general or generic nouns.

Here:

o céu – the sky
o celular – the cell phone (here: people’s phones in general)
as estrelas – the stars

Even though we’re speaking in general terms (the sky, stars, phones as concepts), Portuguese still prefers the articles:

Gosto do céu à noite. – I like the night sky.
Todo mundo usa o celular. – Everybody uses a cell phone.

You can sometimes drop the article (céu, estrelas) in very poetic or stylistic language, but with the article is the neutral, standard choice here.

Could hoje go somewhere else in the sentence, and would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can move hoje around; the basic meaning stays the same, but the rhythm/emphasis changes slightly:

Hoje quase ninguém olha para o céu… (original)
Neutral; “today / these days” is your starting frame.
Quase ninguém olha para o céu hoje…
Very natural; hoje feels a bit like “these days” at the end.
Quase hoje ninguém olha para o céu…
This sounds odd or unnatural in Brazilian Portuguese.

The two natural options are:

Hoje quase ninguém olha para o céu…
Quase ninguém olha para o céu hoje…

Both mean essentially “Nowadays almost nobody looks at the sky…”. Position mainly affects style, not meaning.

Why is celular used instead of telefone or telemóvel?

This is about regional vocabulary:

In Brazilian Portuguese, celular is the normal word for cell phone / mobile phone.
telefone is more general: any phone (landline or mobile), and sounds a bit more formal/general.
telemóvel is used in European Portuguese (Portugal), not in Brazil.

So for a Brazilian context, olhar para o celular is the most natural way to say look at the phone (screen).

In Portuguese negation, do we ever need não together with ninguém in a sentence like this?

In this structure, you don’t add não before the verb:

Hoje quase ninguém olha para o céu. ✅
Hoje não quase ninguém olha para o céu. ❌ (wrong)

You normally use ninguém without não when it’s the subject:

Ninguém veio. – Nobody came.
Quase ninguém entende. – Almost nobody understands.

You do see não + ninguém when ninguém is after the verb or preposition:

Não vi ninguém. – I didn’t see anyone.
Ele não falou com ninguém. – He didn’t talk to anyone.

So: quase ninguém olha, but não olha para ninguém.