ELONIO
Log inSign up

Por favor, use a faca para cortar o bolo.

Por favor, use a faca para cortar o bolo.
Please use the knife to cut the cake.
FromLesson 16inHardcore Portuguese (Brazil)

Breakdown of Por favor, use a faca para cortar o bolo.

para
to
usar
to use
por favor
please
o bolo
the cake
cortar
to cut
a faca
the knife

Questions & Answers about Por favor, use a faca para cortar o bolo.

Why is it use and not usa or usar?

Use is the affirmative command (imperative) for você (and also o senhor / a senhora). It comes from the present subjunctive form of usar: que você use → command: Use!
If you’re speaking to tu (common in some regions, less in much of Brazil), the command is typically usa: Usa uma faca…
Usar is the infinitive (to use) and wouldn’t be used alone as a command here.

Who is being addressed—você or tu—since neither appears in the sentence?

In Brazilian Portuguese, commands often omit the subject pronoun. The form use strongly implies você (formal/neutral).
If it were aimed at tu, you’d commonly see usa (or in some regions use can still appear with tu, but that’s more of a mismatch between pronoun and verb form).

Is Por favor always used at the beginning? Can it go elsewhere?

No. Por favor is flexible:

  • Por favor, use uma faca para cortar o bolo.
  • Use uma faca, por favor, para cortar o bolo.
  • Use uma faca para cortar o bolo, por favor.
    Beginning position is very common and sounds natural.
Do I need the comma after Por favor?

It’s optional but common in writing. With Por favor as a parenthetical politeness marker, a comma helps readability: Por favor, use…
In casual messages, people often omit it: Por favor use…

Why is it uma faca (or a faca)—what’s the difference?

Your sentence has a faca (the knife), which can sound like a specific knife is assumed/available.
Uma faca (a knife) is often more natural if you just mean any knife: Por favor, use uma faca…
Both are correct; choice depends on context:

  • Specific/obvious knife: a faca
  • Any suitable knife: uma faca
Why is it para cortar and not para cortando?

After para to express purpose (in order to), Portuguese uses para + infinitive: para cortar.
Cortando is the gerund (cutting) and wouldn’t follow para in this structure.

Could I say Pra instead of Para?

Yes in speech and informal writing: Por favor, use uma faca pra cortar o bolo.
Para is more formal and preferred in careful writing.

Why is it o bolo and not just bolo?

Portuguese commonly uses articles (o/a/os/as) where English might omit the.
o bolo means the cake (a specific cake in context). You can drop the article in some contexts (more generic/recipe-like), but cortar o bolo is the normal everyday phrasing.

Is cortar the best verb here? What about partir or fatiar?

cortar o bolo is the standard, general way to say cut the cake.
Other options change the nuance:

  • fatiar o bolo = slice the cake (into slices)
  • partir o bolo = split/break the cake (less typical for neatly serving cake) So cortar is the safest default.
Could this be phrased with com instead of use?

Yes. Two natural alternatives are:

  • Por favor, corte o bolo com uma faca. (Please cut the cake with a knife.)
  • Por favor, corte o bolo usando uma faca. (…using a knife.)
    Your original sentence (Use a knife to cut the cake) is also perfectly natural; it just foregrounds the tool first.
Is use here a request or more like an instruction?
It’s an imperative, so grammatically it’s a command, but Por favor makes it polite and commonly understood as a request. Tone and context decide how strong it feels.
How do I pronounce key parts like use, faca, and bolo in Brazilian Portuguese?

Approximate (Brazilian) pronunciation:

  • use: OO-zee (the s sounds like z between vowels)
  • faca: FAH-kah (first syllable stressed)
  • bolo: BOH-loo (final o often sounds like oo in many accents)
Can I add a pronoun like me or pra mim to make it “Use a knife for me”?

Yes, but it changes the meaning:

  • Por favor, use uma faca para cortar o bolo. (neutral request/instruction)
  • Por favor, corte o bolo pra mim. (Please cut the cake for me.)
    If you want “for me,” Portuguese usually attaches it to the action (cortar) rather than to use.
AI Language TutorTry it ↗
“What's the best way to learn Portuguese grammar?”
Portuguese grammar becomes intuitive with practice. Focus on understanding the core patterns first — how sentences are structured, how verbs change form, and how words relate to each other. Our course breaks these concepts into small lessons so you can build understanding step by step.

Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor

Start learning Portuguese

Master Portuguese — from Por favor, use a faca para cortar o bolo to fluency

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
  • ✓Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
  • ✓Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
  • ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions
Start learning Portuguese→