A comida está ruim.

to be

Breakdown of A comida está ruim.

• a comida: the food
• ruim: bad; poor quality

Questions & Answers about A comida está ruim.

Why is it a comida and not just comida?

Comida is a feminine singular noun, so the definite article that matches it is a.

In this sentence, a comida usually means the food in a specific situation: the food here, the food we are eating, the dish that was served, and so on.

If you remove the article and say just comida, it sounds less natural in a normal full sentence like this. Portuguese uses articles more often than English does.

Why is it está instead of é?

Portuguese has two common verbs for to be: ser and estar.

Here, está is used because the sentence describes the food’s current condition or how it seems right now. The idea is that, at this moment, the food is bad.

Compare:

• A comida está ruim. = The food is bad right now / tastes bad / has turned out badly.
• A comida é ruim. = The food is bad in general / the food is low-quality by nature.

In everyday situations, when reacting to a meal in front of you, está ruim is usually the more natural choice.

What does the accent in está do?