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Quando faz frio, eu bebo chá.

Quando faz frio, eu bebo chá.
When it’s cold, I drink tea.
FromLesson 21inHardcore Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of Quando faz frio, eu bebo chá.

eu
I
beber
to drink
quando
when
o chá
the tea
fazer frio
to be cold

Questions & Answers about Quando faz frio, eu bebo chá.

Why do we use faz in “quando faz frio” instead of está frio?

In Portuguese, we normally use fazer to talk about weather conditions:

  • faz calor
  • faz vento
  • faz sol
  • faz frio

Saying está frio isn’t ungrammatical, but it’s less common for general weather reports. More often está frio describes how something (or someone) feels cold at a given moment. The idiomatic, everyday way to talk about the weather being cold is fazer frio.

Could we use ter frio instead of fazer frio?

No, they serve different functions:

  • ter frio = “to feel cold” (focus on the person experiencing the cold)
  • fazer frio = “it is cold” (describes the weather itself)

For example:

  • Tenho frio → “I feel cold.”
  • Faz frio → “It’s cold (outside).”
Why is the subject pronoun eu included even though Portuguese often drops pronouns?

Portuguese is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending -o in bebo already tells you the subject is “I.” The pronoun eu is therefore optional. It’s included here only for emphasis or clarity. You could perfectly say:
Quando faz frio, bebo chá.

Why is there a comma after “quando faz frio”?

When a subordinate clause (“quando faz frio”) comes before the main clause (“eu bebo chá”), Portuguese punctuation calls for a comma. If you reverse the order—
Eu bebo chá quando faz frio
—you no longer need the comma (though you could add it for a slight pause).

Why do we say bebo chá without an article like um or o?

Here chá is a mass/general noun, so no article is used when speaking habitually or generally:

  • Bebo chá → “I drink tea.” (in general)

If you wanted to mention a specific cup:

  • Bebo um chá → “I drink a (cup of) tea.”
  • Bebo o chá → “I drink the tea (we were talking about).”
Why is the simple present used for “bebo chá”? Could we use a continuous form?

European Portuguese uses the simple present to express habits or general truths. There is a present‐continuous form (estar a + infinitive), but that emphasizes an action happening right now:

  • Agora estou a beber chá. → “I’m drinking tea right now.”

For habitual routines, stick with the simple present: bebo chá.

Can we drop quando and say “faz frio, eu bebo chá”?

No—without quando you lose the temporal connector “when.” You could join them with e (and):

  • Faz frio e eu bebo chá. (“It’s cold and I drink tea.”)
    But to express “whenever it’s cold, I drink tea,” you need quando.
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