Breakdown of No intervalo, fazemos uma pequena brincadeira para relaxar o grupo.
Questions & Answers about No intervalo, fazemos uma pequena brincadeira para relaxar o grupo.
In Portuguese, em + o contracts to no.
- em = in / at
- o intervalo = the break / the interval
- em o intervalo → no intervalo
You normally need the definite article with intervalo in this sense, so em intervalo (without the article) would sound wrong here.
So no intervalo literally means in the interval / during the break, and it’s the natural, idiomatic way to say it.
Yes, you can say Durante o intervalo; it’s perfectly correct.
- No intervalo = in/at the break
- Durante o intervalo = during the break
In this sentence, they’re almost interchangeable. Durante o intervalo highlights the time span a bit more (throughout the break), whereas no intervalo is slightly more neutral and very common in everyday speech. In practice, most speakers wouldn’t feel a real difference here.
Portuguese is a pro‑drop language: the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending shows who the subject is.
- fazemos is 1st person plural (we)
- So (nós) fazemos → the nós is redundant and normally left out.
You only add nós for emphasis or contrast, e.g. Nós fazemos uma pequena brincadeira, não eles.
European Portuguese uses the simple present much more than English to talk about:
- habits and routines
- what generally happens in a given situation
Here, fazemos uma pequena brincadeira suggests a regular practice: we (always) do a little game during the break.
If you say estamos a fazer uma pequena brincadeira, it sounds more like we are (currently) doing a little game right now, in this exact break, and you’d usually add a context like Agora, no intervalo, estamos a fazer….
So fazemos matches the idea of a repeated or typical action.
Brincadeira is a flexible word. Depending on context, it can mean:
- a playful activity / game
- a joke (something said in jest)
- sometimes, a prank, though you’d often specify that
In this sentence — fazemos uma pequena brincadeira para relaxar o grupo — it most naturally means a light, playful activity: maybe a simple game, an icebreaker, or a short fun exercise to loosen people up. It’s not necessarily a formal “game” with strict rules; it’s more “something playful we do”.
In Portuguese, most adjectives come after the noun, but some common adjectives can go before to give a more “subjective” or “colorful” feel: pequeno, grande, bom, mau, velho, novo, etc.
So you can say:
- uma brincadeira pequena – neutral, simply “a small game”
- uma pequena brincadeira – slightly more idiomatic here; it feels like “just a little game / a quick little game”, a bit more informal and friendly.
Both are grammatically correct; uma pequena brincadeira is simply more natural in this context.
You can, but it changes the nuance.
- jogo = a “game” in a more structured sense (cards, board game, sports match, etc.)
- brincadeira = playful activity, not necessarily a formal game; can be sillier, lighter, more improvised.
Um pequeno jogo sounds like a short, actual game (maybe with rules).
Uma pequena brincadeira sounds more like a casual icebreaker: a fun little activity, maybe even something goofy just to relax people.
Both could work, but brincadeira better matches the idea of a light, informal group‑relaxing activity.
After para (for / in order to), it’s very common in Portuguese to use the infinitive to express purpose:
- para relaxar o grupo = in order to relax the group
You can say:
- para que o grupo relaxe
That uses the subjunctive (relaxe) and is also correct. It sounds a bit more formal or written. In everyday speech, para + infinitive is more frequent:
- para relaxar o grupo – natural, straightforward
- para que o grupo relaxe – acceptable, slightly more formal or emphatic
Portuguese allows both patterns, but they focus differently:
- relaxar o grupo – the group is the object; we (implicit subject) are relaxing them.
- o grupo relaxar / relaxar-se – the group is doing the relaxing themselves.
In this context, the speaker is organizing an activity for the group, so it’s natural to treat the group as the thing being relaxed:
- fazemos… para relaxar o grupo = we do it in order to relax the group.
You could also say:
- fazemos… para o grupo relaxar – “so that the group can relax” (more common in speech than para o grupo se relaxar).
But relaxar o grupo is clear, simple, and idiomatic.
Yes. Portuguese word order is fairly flexible for time expressions like no intervalo. All of these are possible:
- No intervalo, fazemos uma pequena brincadeira para relaxar o grupo.
- Fazemos, no intervalo, uma pequena brincadeira para relaxar o grupo.
- Fazemos uma pequena brincadeira no intervalo para relaxar o grupo.
The meaning stays basically the same.
Placing no intervalo at the beginning (as in the original) slightly emphasizes when this happens. Putting it in the middle or end is also natural; speakers often choose based on rhythm or what they want to highlight.
Yes, it’s standard (and recommended) to put a comma after an initial time or place expression that comes before the main clause:
- No intervalo, fazemos…
- À noite, estudamos…
- Em Lisboa, há muitos turistas.
In informal writing, you might see it omitted, but in correct written Portuguese, that comma is expected.