Breakdown of Às vezes a brincadeira fica barulhenta e a professora pede silêncio.
Questions & Answers about Às vezes a brincadeira fica barulhenta e a professora pede silêncio.
Às vezes means “sometimes”.
- Às is a contraction of:
- a (preposition “to / at”)
- as (feminine plural definite article “the”)
→ às (with a grave accent)
Literally, às vezes is like “at the times”, but as a fixed expression it just means “sometimes”.
The grave accent (à) in Portuguese usually shows this contraction (called crase). So you write às vezes, not as vezes.
All three can be translated as “sometimes / occasionally”, but there are nuances:
- às vezes – the most common, neutral way to say “sometimes”.
- de vez em quando – also “once in a while / every now and then”; often feels a bit more occasional, but in practice it often overlaps with às vezes.
- algumas vezes – literally “a few times / several times”; it can sound a bit more countable or specific, like “some (number of) times”.
In your sentence, Às vezes a brincadeira fica barulhenta… is the most natural choice.
In this sentence, a brincadeira is “the play / the playing / the game time”, referring to kids playing around.
Differences:
brincadeira
- General “play” or “playing” (children having fun), and also “joke / prank” depending on context.
- Here, in a school context with noise and a teacher, it clearly means children’s play.
jogo
- A game with rules (e.g., football game, board game).
brinquedo
- A toy (object the kids play with).
piada
- A joke (spoken joke, funny line).
So a brincadeira fica barulhenta = “the play gets noisy”, not “the joke gets noisy” in this context.
In Portuguese, every noun has a grammatical gender.
- brincadeira ends in -eira, which is commonly feminine.
- Therefore it takes the feminine article a: a brincadeira (“the play / playing”).
If it were plural, it would be as brincadeiras. The adjective must also agree in gender and number, which is why we see barulhenta (feminine singular) later.
- ficar can mean “to become / to get” (change of state) as well as “to stay / to remain” or “to be located”.
In a brincadeira fica barulhenta:
- fica barulhenta = “gets noisy / becomes noisy”.
- It suggests a change: at first the play might be calm, then it becomes noisy.
If you said a brincadeira é barulhenta, it would sound more like a permanent characteristic: “Playtime is (by nature) noisy.” The original sentence talks about what happens sometimes, so fica makes more sense.
Adjectives in Portuguese must agree with the noun in gender and number.
- Noun: a brincadeira – feminine, singular.
- Adjective: barulhenta – feminine, singular form of “noisy”.
Other forms:
- Masculine singular: barulhento (um jogo barulhento)
- Feminine singular: barulhenta (uma brincadeira barulhenta)
- Masculine plural: barulhentos (jogos barulhentos)
- Feminine plural: barulhentas (brincadeiras barulhentas)
So barulhenta is required here to match a brincadeira.
Both barulhento and barulhoso can mean “noisy” and are often interchangeable.
barulhento/barulhenta
- Very common in everyday speech for people, places, or situations that make a lot of noise.
barulhoso/barulhosa
- Also used, sometimes a bit more descriptive or literary, depending on region and style.
In this sentence, you could say:
- Às vezes a brincadeira fica barulhosa…
It would still be understood and acceptable, but barulhenta is probably the more common, natural choice here.
In European Portuguese, when you talk about a specific person’s profession, it’s very common to use the definite article:
- a professora = “the (female) teacher” (a particular one, e.g., the class’s teacher).
Saying just professora pede silêncio would usually sound incomplete or unnatural in this context. You want a professora to refer to “the teacher” the children know.
Also note:
- professor (masculine) → o professor
- professora (feminine) → a professora
In Brazilian Portuguese, you might sometimes hear people drop the article in certain contexts, but a professora is still very common and correct there too.
- pedir = “to ask for / to request”.
- silêncio = “silence”.
So pede silêncio literally is “asks (for) silence”.
You do not normally add por here:
- pede por silêncio sounds unnatural or incorrect in this context.
You could expand it in other ways:
- pede para fazer silêncio – “asks (everyone) to be quiet / to keep silent.”
- pede que façam silêncio – “asks that they keep silent.”
But pede silêncio is a very natural, concise way to say “(she) asks for silence / tells them to be quiet.”
Both are possible, but they’re used slightly differently:
pede silêncio
- General, uncountable sense: “asks for silence (in general)”.
- Very natural idiomatic phrase.
pede o silêncio
- More specific, as if referring to “the silence (of the group / in the room)”.
- Can sound a bit more formal or marked.
In everyday speech, pede silêncio is the standard expression, so that’s what appears in this sentence.
Portuguese present tense (presente do indicativo) can express:
- Habitual actions / general truths – like English “sometimes the play gets noisy and the teacher asks for silence.”
- Actions happening right now – “the play is getting noisy and the teacher is asking for silence.”
In Às vezes a brincadeira fica barulhenta e a professora pede silêncio, the às vezes makes it clear this is a habitual, repeated situation, not just one moment. So it means:
- “Sometimes the play gets noisy and the teacher asks for silence.”
The sentence is perfectly fine in both European and Brazilian Portuguese.
- All the vocabulary (às vezes, brincadeira, fica barulhenta, a professora, pede silêncio) is shared.
- The structure is natural in both varieties.
Small differences that might appear in Brazil in some contexts:
- Intonation and pronunciation, of course.
- People might sometimes say a professora pede para fazer silêncio or pede silêncio, pessoal (“asks for silence, guys”) in speech.
But as written, Às vezes a brincadeira fica barulhenta e a professora pede silêncio. is fully natural and correct in either variety, and slightly more textbook-neutral.