Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): A viagem foi incrível. - The trip was incredible.

Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil)
/Handling a car insurance claim
/A viagem foi incrível.

A viagem foi incrível.

Word

A viagem foi incrível.

Meaning

The trip was incredible.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil)

Lesson

Handling a car insurance claim

Breakdown of A viagem foi incrível.

incredible; amazing

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Portuguese grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Portuguese now

Questions & Answers about A viagem foi incrível.

Why is there an a at the beginning of the sentence?

A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

a viagem = the trip / the journey

In Portuguese, nouns have grammatical gender, and viagem is feminine, so it takes a in the singular.

Compare:

a viagem = the trip
uma viagem = a trip

Is viagem feminine? How do I know?

Yes, viagem is a feminine noun: a viagem.

Unfortunately, noun gender in Portuguese is not always predictable from meaning alone, so you often need to learn it together with the noun. A good habit is to memorize nouns with their article:

a viagem
o carro
a cidade

Even though many feminine nouns end in -a, viagem is a good reminder that feminine nouns can end in other letters too.

What does foi mean here, and why is it used?

Foi is the third-person singular preterite form of ser.

Here it means was:

A viagem foi incrível. = The trip was incredible.

It is third-person singular because the subject is a viagem, which is singular.

A quick comparison with ser:

eu fui = I was / I went
você/ele/ela foi = you/he/she was
a viagem foi = the trip was

Why is it foi and not era?

Both can translate to was, but they are used differently.

foi (preterite) usually presents the trip as a completed whole
era (imperfect) gives more of a background, descriptive, or ongoing feeling

So:

A viagem foi incrível. = The trip was incredible.
This is the most natural way to make a simple statement about a finished trip.
A viagem era incrível. sounds less natural by itself in most contexts. It might appear in storytelling, especially if you are describing how things seemed during some period.

For a completed event like a trip, foi is usually the expected choice.

Why use ser here? Could I also say A viagem estava incrível?

Yes, you might hear estava incrível, but foi incrível is the most common and neutral choice here.

The difference is roughly:

foi incrível = the trip was incredible overall
estava incrível = the trip was amazing at that moment / in that state

With something like viagem, Portuguese often uses ser to evaluate the event as a whole.

So if you just want to say The trip was incredible, A viagem foi incrível is the safest, most natural sentence.

Why doesn’t incrível change to a different feminine form?

Because incrível is one of many adjectives that have the same form for masculine and feminine.

So you get:

o filme incrível
a viagem incrível

It only changes for number:

a viagem incrível = the incredible trip
as viagens incríveis = the incredible trips

This is normal for many adjectives ending in -vel.

How is A viagem foi incrível pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese?

A natural Brazilian pronunciation is approximately:

ah vee-AH-zhem foy een-kreh-SEE-vel

A few important points:

viagem sounds like vee-AH-zhem
- the g sounds like the s in measure or the zh sound
foi sounds roughly like foy
incrível has stress on crí: in-CRÍ-vel

The final m in viagem does not sound like a strong English m. It mainly nasalizes the vowel before it.

Can the word order change?

This sentence uses the normal, neutral order:

A viagem = subject
foi = verb
incrível = predicate adjective

So A viagem foi incrível is the standard way to say it.

You can change word order in special cases for style or emphasis, but it is much less common for learners and may sound literary or marked. The basic pattern you should remember is:

subject + verb + adjective

Could I leave out a and just say Viagem foi incrível?

Normally, no. In this sentence, a is needed.

A viagem foi incrível. = The trip was incredible.

Without the article, Viagem foi incrível sounds unnatural in standard Portuguese.

Portuguese often uses articles in places where English might be more flexible. So when talking about a specific trip, use a viagem.

How would this sentence change in the plural?

It would become:

As viagens foram incríveis. = The trips were incredible.

Notice all the changes:

a → as
viagem → viagens
foi → foram
incrível → incríveis

This is a good example of agreement across the sentence.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io