Questions & Answers about O comboio vai atrasar.
What grammar is being used in O comboio vai atrasar?
It’s the periphrastic future in Portuguese: ir (present) + infinitive. Here, vai is the 3rd person singular of ir (to go), and atrasar is the infinitive. This construction is the most common way in European Portuguese to talk about the near or planned future.
- Conjugation of ir (present): vou, vais, vai, vamos, ides, vão.
Do I need the reflexive pronoun “se” (atrasar-se) here?
Not necessarily. With things like trains or events, European Portuguese uses both:
- O comboio vai atrasar. (very common and perfectly correct)
- O comboio vai-se atrasar. / O comboio vai atrasar-se. (also correct)
Using -se emphasizes the subject “being late” rather than something else delaying it, but in practice both versions are idiomatic for trains. With people, atrasar-se is more typical: Vou-me atrasar (I’m going to be late).
If I include “se,” where does it go? And do I need hyphens?
In European Portuguese:
- Affirmative main clause: either vai-se atrasar (clitic climbs to the auxiliary) or vai atrasar-se (stays with the infinitive). Both take hyphens after the verb they attach to.
- With a proclisis trigger like não: Não se vai atrasar. (no hyphen because the clitic comes before the verb)
- Avoid the Brazilian-style spacing vai se atrasar in EP writing; prefer vai-se atrasar or vai atrasar-se.
Can I say O comboio atrasará or O comboio irá atrasar?
Yes, both are grammatical.
- O comboio atrasará uses the synthetic future and sounds more formal, written, or predictive.
- O comboio irá atrasar is also more formal/solemn than vai atrasar. In everyday speech in Portugal, vai atrasar is the default.
How do I say the train is late, was late, or will be late?
- Present state: O comboio está atrasado.
- Past fact: O comboio atrasou or O comboio chegou atrasado.
- Future: O comboio vai atrasar or O comboio vai chegar atrasado. Use the adjective atrasado with estar to describe the current state; use atrasar/chegar atrasado for events.
How do I add the amount of delay?
Common options:
- O comboio vai atrasar 10 minutos.
- O comboio tem um atraso de 10 minutos.
- More formal/announcement style: O comboio encontra-se com um atraso de 10 minutos. Avoid em 10 minutos if you mean “by 10 minutes” (that reads as “in 10 minutes”).
Why is it O comboio and not just Comboio?
Portuguese uses the definite article a lot more than English. O comboio points to a specific, known train (e.g., the 9:00 service). You might drop the article in headlines or generic statements (e.g., Comboios atrasam no inverno = Trains run late in winter), but in normal speech about a specific train, use o.
Is vai ser atrasado acceptable?
It’s grammatical as a true passive (e.g., “will be delayed by X”), but it’s unnatural for routine delays. Prefer vai atrasar, vai chegar atrasado, or vai ter um atraso. Also note that ser atrasado about a person can mean “to be slow (mentally),” so avoid that phrasing with people.
What’s the difference between atrasar, chegar atrasado, and demorar?
- atrasar (intransitive): the event ends up late. Example: O comboio atrasou 15 minutos.
- chegar atrasado: focuses on the arrival being late. Example: O comboio vai chegar atrasado.
- demorar: “to take time.” Example: O comboio vai demorar (it’ll take a while), or Vai demorar a chegar (will take long to arrive). It doesn’t inherently mean “late.”
What’s the Brazilian vs. European word for “train”?
In Portugal it’s comboio. In Brazil it’s trem. People in Portugal understand trem, but it sounds Brazilian. Stick to comboio in European Portuguese.
How do I pronounce O comboio vai atrasar?
Approximate European Portuguese:
- O comboio: “oo kon-BOY-oo” (stress on BOY; final -o sounds like “oo”)
- vai: like English “vie”
- atrasar: “uh-trah-ZAR” (the s between vowels sounds like “z”; final r is soft in many accents) Said together: “oo kon-BOY-oo VIE uh-trah-ZAR.”
How do I make it negative or ask a question?
- Negative: O comboio não vai atrasar.
- Yes–no question (speech): just use rising intonation: O comboio vai atrasar?
- More cautious/polite: Será que o comboio vai atrasar? or Sabe se o comboio vai atrasar?
How do I talk about multiple trains?
Pluralize both the article and the verb:
- Os comboios vão atrasar.
- With amounts: Os comboios vão atrasar entre 5 e 15 minutos.
How would this be phrased in announcements?
You’ll hear formal variants such as:
- Informa-se que o comboio [n.º/linha] se encontra com um atraso de [X] minutos.
- Prevê-se um atraso de [X] minutos no comboio [n.º/linha]. These sound more official than O comboio vai atrasar.
More from this lesson
AI Language TutorTry it ↗
“What's the best way to learn Portuguese grammar?”
Portuguese grammar becomes intuitive with practice. Focus on understanding the core patterns first — how sentences are structured, how verbs change form, and how words relate to each other. Our course breaks these concepts into small lessons so you can build understanding step by step.
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning PortugueseMaster Portuguese — from O comboio vai atrasar to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.
- ✓ Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓ Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓ Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions