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É altura de sair de casa.

É altura de sair de casa.
It's time to leave the house.
FromLesson 29inHardcore Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about É altura de sair de casa.

Why do we use the verb ser in É altura de sair de casa instead of estar?
In Portuguese, impersonal time-expressions commonly use ser to state a general fact or definition (e.g. é hora de, é tempo de, é altura de). They aren’t describing a temporary state but rather identifying “the proper moment.” Using estar directly here would sound odd, though you can find the alternative construction está na altura de, which combines estar with the preposition na (em + a).
Is É altura de interchangeable with Está na altura de?

Yes. Both mean “it’s time to.”
• É altura de is more direct and idiomatic in Portugal.
• Está na altura de literally says “it’s at the time of,” using estar + na.
They carry the same idea; choice between them is a matter of style or emphasis.

Can you use É hora de instead of É altura de?
Absolutely. É hora de (“it’s time to”) is equally correct and often even more frequent in everyday speech. The nuance between hora (hour/time) and altura (moment/point) is very slight—they both mark that the right moment has arrived.
Why do we say sair de casa instead of sair a casa?

Portuguese verbs of motion pair with specific prepositions:
• sair de indicates origin (“to leave from”).
• sair a would imply movement toward home, which is unusual in Portuguese.
To express “go home,” you’d rather say ir para casa or sair para casa.

What’s the difference between sair de casa and sair para casa?

• sair de casa = “leave the house” (focus on departure).
• sair para casa = “leave [somewhere] in order to go home” (focus on destination).
Example:
Saí de casa às 8h. (I left home at 8.)
Saí do trabalho para casa. (I left work to go home.)

Could we say sair casa without a preposition?
No. Verbs like sair demand a preposition to link to a place. Sair casa is ungrammatical. You must use de (origin) or para (destination).
Is É altura de sair de casa formal or informal?
It’s neutral—perfectly fine in both spoken and written contexts. In very casual speech you might hear Já é hora de sair de casa (“It’s already time to leave home”), but É altura de sair de casa works everywhere you want to say “it’s time to leave the house.”
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