Question 1

What does É costume mean and why is it used here?

Accepted Answer

É costume literally means “it is customary.” It’s an impersonal expression used to describe a general habit or tradition without specifying who performs the action. In É costume bebermos café depois do almoço, it signals that drinking coffee after lunch is a common practice.

Question 2

Why is bebermos used instead of the simple infinitive beber?

Accepted Answer

Portuguese has a personal infinitive whose ending changes according to the subject:  
- bebermos marks the first person plural (nós).  
Here, É costume + personal infinitive emphasizes that we usually drink coffee. Using the simple infinitive beber would remove that nuance of who performs the action.

Question 3

Could I rephrase it as Costuma-se beber café depois do almoço or Costumamos beber café depois do almoço?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All three express the same habit but with slight differences in style:  
- Costuma-se beber café depois do almoço.  
  • Impersonal voice: “one usually drinks coffee after lunch.”  
- Costumamos beber café depois do almoço.  
  • Personal voice in the nós form: “we usually drink coffee after lunch.”  
- É costume bebermos café depois do almoço.  
  • Highlights the idea of a custom or tradition.

Question 4

Is there any nuance between É costume bebermos… and Costumamos beber…?

Accepted Answer

Yes, though subtle:  
- É costume bebermos… frames it as a custom or tradition, slightly more formal or descriptive.  
- Costumamos beber… simply states a habit or frequency, more direct and conversational.

Question 5

Why do we say depois do almoço instead of após o almoço?

Accepted Answer

Both depois de and após mean “after.”  
- depois do almoço (with the contraction de + o = do) is more common in everyday speech.  
- após o almoço sounds a bit more formal or literary, but it’s also correct.

Question 6

Can we omit café and say É costume bebermos depois do almoço?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can. It would mean “it’s customary to drink after lunch” without specifying what’s drunk. In context, people will often assume coffee, but adding café removes any ambiguity.

Question 7

Why isn’t the verb in the subjunctive mood?

Accepted Answer

The personal infinitive is a non-finite verb form, not a subjunctive. It’s used with impersonal expressions like É costume to state general facts or routines. The subjunctive appears in dependent clauses that require mood change (e.g., after expressions of doubt, desire or certain conjunctions), which is not the case here.

É costume bebermos café depois do almoço.

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