O bebê ficou sem sono no cercado e começou a brincar com a chupeta.

The baby was not sleepy in the playpen and started playing with the pacifier.

Breakdown of O bebê ficou sem sono no cercado e começou a brincar com a chupeta.

• com: with
• e: and
• começar: to start
• ficar: to become

Questions & Answers about O bebê ficou sem sono no cercado e começou a brincar com a chupeta.

What does ficou sem sono mean?

It literally means became without sleep, but in natural English it means stopped feeling sleepy or was no longer sleepy.

So in this sentence, the idea is not that the baby could not sleep because of insomnia. It is simply that the baby wasn't sleepy anymore.

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Why is ficou used instead of estava?

Ficou is the preterite of ficar, and here it shows a change of state.

• ficou sem sono = the baby became not sleepy / stopped being sleepy
• estava sem sono = the baby was not sleepy

So ficou suggests that something changed: the baby was sleepy before, and then wasn’t.

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Is sem sono a common expression?

Yes. Sem sono is a very common and natural way to say not sleepy.

Compare:

• estar com sono = to be sleepy
• estar sem sono = to not be sleepy
• ficar sem sono = to stop being sleepy

This is a very everyday expression in Brazilian Portuguese.

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