Word
Neve cai devagar à noite.
Meaning
Snow falls slowly at night.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Neve cai devagar à noite.
Why isn’t there an article before neve? In English you’d say “Snow falls…”, but in Portuguese many sentences start with a neve.
Portuguese allows you to omit the definite article before abstract or generic nouns when speaking generally. Saying Neve cai devagar à noite is like the English “Snow falls slowly at night.” If you include the article, A neve cai devagar à noite, it’s also correct—just a slightly different stylistic choice.
Why is the verb cai (falls) used instead of a continuous form like está caindo (is falling)?
In European Portuguese the simple present (cai) covers habitual facts and sometimes ongoing actions. To stress an action in progress you can use estar a + infinitive:
A neve está a cair devagar à noite.
In Brazilian Portuguese speakers more commonly say A neve está caindo devagar à noite. But cai by itself is perfectly natural to describe snow falling generally.
What does devagar mean, and why not devagarmente?
Devagar is an adverb meaning “slowly.” Some Portuguese adverbs use the -mente suffix (e.g. lento → lentamente), but devagar is already a fixed adverb. Devagarmente is archaic and rarely used. You could also say lentamente if you want, but devagar is more colloquial.
Why does à noite have a grave accent on the ?