Breakdown of Há muito tempo que quero visitar o Porto.
eu
I
querer
to want
o tempo
the time
que
that
muito
much
haver
to exist
visitar
to visit
Porto
Porto
Questions & Answers about Há muito tempo que quero visitar o Porto.
What does há mean here, and why does it have an accent (vs. plain a)?
- Há is the impersonal present of haver used to talk about time. With a present tense, it means “for” (a duration up to now); without a following que, it can mean “ago.”
- The accent distinguishes há from the preposition a (“to/at/in,” or “in + time” as in daqui a dois anos).
- Patterns:
- Há dois anos que… = for two years (up to now)
- Há dois anos, …
- past verb = two years ago, …
- Daqui a dois anos… = in two years (from now)
Why is que there after há muito tempo? Can I drop it?
- Há [duration] que + present is a set structure meaning a state/action has lasted up to now.
- If you drop que, the meaning tends to shift. For example, Há muito tempo visitei o Porto means “a long time ago I visited Porto” (past, not ongoing).
- To keep the “for a long time (up to now)” meaning, keep either the full structure (Há muito tempo que…) or place the duration at the end with the present (see next question).
Can I put the time phrase at the end, like Quero visitar o Porto há muito tempo?
Yes. In European Portuguese you can say either:
Why not use the Portuguese present perfect, like tenho querido?
In Portuguese, the present perfect (tenho + particípio) usually means repeated or habitual occurrences up to now, not a single continuous state. Tenho querido visitar o Porto suggests you’ve wanted it on and off recently. To express a continuous desire that started in the past and still holds, use the simple present with há… que (or the duration at the end): Há muito tempo que quero… / Quero… há muito tempo.
Can I use desde instead of há?
- Use desde with a starting point: Desde 2015 (que) quero visitar o Porto.
- Use há with a duration: Há dez anos que quero visitar o Porto.
- The form Desde há… is common in European Portuguese (“since [a duration] ago”), but many style guides prefer the cleaner options above.
Why is it o Porto? Do city names take articles in Portuguese?
In European Portuguese, many place names take a definite article. Porto takes the masculine article: o Porto. Others don’t (e.g., Lisboa). It’s largely lexical and must be learned case by case. Note: English “Oporto” arose from people treating the article o as part of the name.
Why is there no preposition before Porto after visitar?
How should I pronounce this sentence in European Portuguese?
- Há: h is silent; open “á.”
- muito: nasal “mui-” → roughly “MOOY-too” ([ˈmũjtu]).
- tempo: nasal “tem-” ([ˈtẽpu]).
- que: reduced vowel, like “kɨ.”
- quero: open “e” ([ˈkɛɾu]); the single r between vowels is a tap [ɾ].
- visitar: final -r is pronounced in EP (a light [ɾ]).
- o Porto: article o sounds like “u”; single r in Porto is a tap: [u ˈpoɾtu].
Why muito tempo and not muitos tempos?
Does há muito tempo ever mean “a long time ago”?
How would Brazilians typically say this?
Is quero too direct? How can I sound softer or more polite in Portugal?
Yes, quero can sound blunt. Politer or softer options:
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