Breakdown of O sinal do Wi‑Fi desaparece às vezes.
Questions & Answers about O sinal do Wi‑Fi desaparece às vezes.
Loanwords like Wi‑Fi are generally treated as masculine in European Portuguese: o Wi‑Fi. But the gender can change if Wi‑Fi is part of a noun phrase headed by a Portuguese noun, e.g.:
- a rede Wi‑Fi (network, feminine)
- o sinal do Wi‑Fi (signal, masculine because “sinal” is masculine)
No. Às is a contraction: a (to/at) + as (the, feminine plural) = às. The grave accent marks this contraction (called “crase”). The fixed expression is às vezes = “sometimes.”
- As vezes (no accent) would mean “the times” in contexts like as vezes difíceis (“the difficult times”).
- You may also hear há vezes (em que)… = “there are times (when)…”.
Yes. All are correct, with small differences in emphasis:
- O sinal do Wi‑Fi desaparece às vezes. (neutral, end-focus)
- O sinal do Wi‑Fi às vezes desaparece. (slight focus on frequency before the verb)
- Às vezes, o sinal do Wi‑Fi desaparece. (fronted adverb; sets the scene first)
It’s fine, but everyday European Portuguese often uses:
- O sinal do Wi‑Fi falha às vezes. (fails)
- O Wi‑Fi vai(-se) abaixo às vezes. (goes down)
- Perde-se o sinal de Wi‑Fi às vezes. (the signal gets lost) All are idiomatic. In Brazil you’ll often hear a ligação cai (“the connection drops”).
- keeps disappearing: está sempre a desaparecer / anda sempre a desaparecer
- usually disappears: costuma desaparecer
- disappeared (once): desapareceu
- has been disappearing lately: tem andado a desaparecer or more idiomatically tem falhado
Yes, and people will understand it as “the Wi‑Fi (service) goes away sometimes.” Talking about o sinal is a bit more precise. If you choose the Wi‑Fi as subject, many speakers prefer:
- O Wi‑Fi vai(-se) abaixo às vezes.
Approximate guide:
- O sinal ≈ “oo see-NAHL” (stress on -nal)
- do Wi‑Fi ≈ “doo WAI-FYE” (very close to English “wai-fai”)
- desaparece ≈ “d’zah-pah-REH-s(uh)” (stress on “-re-”; final “e” is a weak, almost “uh” sound)
- às vezes ≈ “ahs VEH-zesh” (final “s” sounds like “sh” in Portugal)
Yes, with small stylistic nuances:
- de vez em quando = every now and then (very common)
- por vezes = sometimes (a bit more formal/literary)
- algumas vezes = a few times / on some occasions (counts occurrences)
Both are used in European Portuguese, with enclisis (pronoun after the verb) being the default in main clauses:
- Perde-se o sinal às vezes.
- O sinal perde-se às vezes. In Brazil you’ll often hear proclisis: se perde.