Breakdown of Quando eu ficar nervoso, vou tentar ficar calmo.
Questions & Answers about Quando eu ficar nervoso, vou tentar ficar calmo.
Ficar is very common in Brazilian Portuguese and often means to become / to get (a change of state), not to stay.
- Quando eu ficar nervoso = When I get (become) nervous
- vou tentar ficar calmo = I’m going to try to stay/remain calm (or to get calm depending on context, but usually “to remain calm”)
So it’s being used once for getting nervous and once for being/reminding yourself to be calm.
Because quando referring to a future event typically triggers the future subjunctive in Portuguese.
- Quando eu ficar nervoso... = future situation that may happen
If it were a habitual/regular event, present tense could appear: - Quando eu fico nervoso, eu respiro fundo. = When I get nervous (in general), I take a deep breath.
In Quando eu ficar nervoso, ficar is the future subjunctive:
- eu ficar
- você/ele ficar
- nós ficarmos
- vocês/eles ficarem
You recognize it because it often looks like the infinitive for many verbs (especially regular -ar verbs), and it commonly appears after triggers like quando, se, assim que, logo que when talking about the future.
Portuguese marks the difference between:
- things that are certain/habitual (indicative), and
- things that are not yet realized / conditional on the future (subjunctive).
English uses present simple for many future-time clauses (When I get nervous...), but Portuguese uses future subjunctive in that same kind of clause.
Because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause: Quando eu ficar nervoso. It’s common (and recommended) to use a comma after an introductory clause before the main clause:
Quando eu ficar nervoso, vou tentar ficar calmo.
If you reverse the order, the comma is often optional and style-dependent:
Vou tentar ficar calmo quando eu ficar nervoso.
Vou tentar is the near-future construction: ir (present) + infinitive.
- vou = present tense of ir (I go) used as an auxiliary
- tentar = infinitive (to try)
Together it means I’m going to try (future intention).
Yes. Tentarei is the simple future:
- Quando eu ficar nervoso, tentarei ficar calmo.
In Brazilian Portuguese, vou tentar is often more natural in everyday speech. Tentarei can sound more formal, emphatic, or written, depending on context.
Because adjectives agree with the subject. The subject is eu (I), and the sentence assumes the speaker is male (or using the masculine as default).
If the speaker is female, it would be:
- Quando eu ficar nervosa, vou tentar ficar calma.
For plural we:
- Quando nós ficarmos nervosos/nervosas, vamos tentar ficar calmos/calmas.
You can often omit subject pronouns in Portuguese because the verb form identifies the subject:
- Quando ficar nervoso, vou tentar ficar calmo.
Including eu can add emphasis or clarity, especially in contrast:
- Quando eu ficar nervoso, você me avisa.
It can mean either depending on context, but with tentar it often implies to manage to remain calm (not lose composure).
- tentar ficar calmo = try to keep calm / try to stay calm
If you want to emphasize “calm down” (change into calm), Brazilian Portuguese often uses: - tentar se acalmar = try to calm down
Yes, but it changes the nuance:
- Quando eu ficar nervoso... = it’s expected to happen at some point (when)
- Se eu ficar nervoso... = it may or may not happen (if)
Both use the future subjunctive in Portuguese for future reference: quando/se eu ficar.
Yes, it’s natural. Some common alternatives with similar meaning:
- Quando eu ficar nervoso, vou tentar me acalmar. (very common)
- Quando eu ficar nervoso, vou tentar manter a calma. (a bit more “polished”)
- Se eu ficar nervoso, vou tentar ficar calmo. (more hypothetical)