Breakdown of As minhas malas são leves, mas o empregado diz para não carregar muito peso.
ser
to be
minha
my
mas
but
não
not
para
to
muito
much
leve
light
dizer
to say
carregar
to carry
a mala
the bag
o empregado
the employee
o peso
the weight
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Questions & Answers about As minhas malas são leves, mas o empregado diz para não carregar muito peso.
Why is there a definite article in as minhas malas? Can I drop it and just say minhas malas?
In European Portuguese it’s standard to use the definite article with possessive adjectives: o meu, a minha, os meus, as minhas. So you say as minhas malas, o meu carro, etc.
In Brazilian Portuguese you often hear minhas malas without the article, but in Portugal you’ll almost always include as.
Why is the adjective leves plural, and why not leva or levas?
Leve ends in -e, so it has the same form for masculine and feminine in the singular: leve. In the plural you add -s, giving leves, which applies to both genders. Since malas is plural, you need leves: as minhas malas são leves.
What does leve actually mean here? Is it the same as “light” in English?
Yes, leve means “light” in weight, just like in English. It does not mean “not serious” (that would be frívolo or superficial).
Who is o empregado? Could I say a empregada or o funcionário instead?
Empregado (masculine) or empregada (feminine) is a general word for “employee.” You could also use funcionário/funcionária, which is a bit more formal. If it’s a waiter you might hear empregado de mesa / empregada de mesa.
Why do we have diz para não carregar with an infinitive? Why is there no eu or mim?
Portuguese often uses dizer para + infinitive to convey an instruction:
• o empregado diz para não carregar muito peso = “the employee says not to carry much weight.”
There is no eu or mim because subject pronouns are usually dropped when they’re understood.
Couldn’t I say o empregado diz para eu não carregar muito peso?
Formally you could insert eu, but it’s redundant. Native speakers just say diz para não carregar… The infinitive’s subject is implied, so adding eu is rare in everyday speech.
Why not use the subjunctive, like diz para que eu não carregue?
You can indeed say o empregado diz para que eu não carregue muito peso, which is more formal or explicit. But in colloquial Portuguese we simplify with diz para + infinitive.
Why is it muito peso and not muitos pesos?
Here peso is an uncountable noun meaning “weight,” so it stays singular and is modified by muito (adjective): muito peso = “much weight.” If you meant “many individual weights” (e.g. gym plates), you’d use pesos.
What’s the difference between não carregar muito peso and não carregar peso demais / demasiado peso?
- muito peso simply means “a lot of weight.”
- demasiado peso (more common in Portugal) or peso demais (common in Brazil) means “too much weight.”
In context, não carregar muito peso can imply “don’t carry too much,” but if you want to emphasize “too much,” use demasiado or demais.
Where does the não go in a sentence with an infinitive? Why para não carregar and not para carregar não?
In Portuguese negatives, não typically comes directly before the verb or infinitive: não carregar, não fale, não veja. So you say diz para não carregar, placing não before carregar.
Can I use pra instead of para, as in diz pra não carregar?
In casual speech (especially in Brazil) people often contract para to pra. In Portugal you’ll most often hear the full para, though in very informal or rapid speech you might catch p’ra.