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Questions & Answers about O café está demasiado frio.
What does demasiado mean in the sentence, and why is it used here?
In this sentence, demasiado means "too" or "excessively." It emphasizes that the coffee isn’t just cold—it’s overly cold, to the point of being undesirable. This intensifying adverb modifies frio (cold) to express that the temperature is not acceptable.
Why is the verb está used instead of é?
In Portuguese, ser and estar are both equivalent to "to be" but are used in different contexts. Estar describes temporary states or conditions. Since the coffee’s temperature is a temporary condition (it could warm up or be reheated), está is the correct choice. Using é would imply an inherent, unchanging quality.
What is the grammatical structure of the sentence?
The sentence follows a simple structure: • O café is the subject. • Está is the linking verb, indicating a state. • Demasiado frio is the predicate, where demasiado acts as an adverb intensifying the adjective frio. This structure conveys a temporary condition affecting the subject.
Why is the definite article o used before café?
In Portuguese, nouns typically come with a definite or indefinite article. Café is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine definite article o, meaning "the." This specifies that we’re talking about a particular coffee being referred to in the context.
How does demasiado frio differ from other possible expressions like muito frio?
While both demasiado frio and muito frio indicate that the coffee is cold, demasiado frío suggests an excessive, perhaps undesirable level of coldness—implying that the temperature is beyond what is acceptable. Muito frio can simply mean "very cold" without necessarily conveying that it is a problem, whereas demasiado frio conveys a sense of excess.
Is there any nuance between frio and gelado when describing the temperature of a beverage?
Yes. Frio generally means "cold," indicating that the temperature is low but not necessarily freezing. Gelado, on the other hand, can suggest that something is chilled to a point that might almost be frozen or is intentionally served as an iced version (often referring to café gelado as iced coffee). In this sentence, frio is used to indicate that the coffee has lost the warmth it should have, not that it’s been prepared as an iced beverage.