Breakdown of O aquecimento da casa está fraco no inverno.
Questions & Answers about O aquecimento da casa está fraco no inverno.
Aquecimento comes from the verb aquecer (to heat / to warm).
In this sentence, o aquecimento means the heating system / the heating of the house, not just the act of getting warmer. It refers to whatever system warms the house (radiators, central heating, etc.).
It can also mean:
- warming up (before exercise) – aquecimento antes do treino
- heating up in a physical sense – o aquecimento da água
Here, context makes it clear we are talking about the house’s heating system.
O is the masculine singular definite article (the).
O aquecimento = the heating (a specific, known heating system: the house’s heating).
In European Portuguese, you normally use the definite article with abstract or general nouns when you have a specific thing in mind:
- O aquecimento da casa está fraco.
The house’s heating (the one we know and are talking about) is weak.
You could omit o in some very general or technical statements (for example in headings or labels: Aquecimento da casa as a title on a bill), but in a normal sentence like this, with a concrete situation, O aquecimento is the natural form.
Da is a contraction of de + a:
- de = of / from
- a = the (feminine singular article)
- da = of the
So:
- o aquecimento da casa = the heating of the house / the house’s heating
If you say de casa (without the article), it sounds less like a specific house and more like a more generic of home / home-type idea. In this sentence, you mean this particular house, so da casa is better.
Compare:
- Gosto de ficar em casa. – I like staying at home. (no article)
- A porta da casa está aberta. – The door of the house is open. (specific house, with article, hence da)
Portuguese distinguishes between:
- ser = permanent or defining characteristic
- estar = temporary state or condition
Está fraco suggests the heating is weak now / at this time (in winter), as a state or condition:
- O aquecimento da casa está fraco no inverno.
The house heating is weak in winter (it does not heat well then).
With é fraco, you would be describing a more permanent, inherent quality of that heating system, almost like a built‑in defect. In practice, speakers might still use é fraco in some contexts, but está fraco matches the idea of the way it is working (or failing) in winter and sounds very natural.
Literally, fraco means weak.
In this context, está fraco means:
- It is not powerful enough
- It does not heat the house well
- The heating is underperforming
Saying o aquecimento está frio is not natural, because frio (cold) describes a temperature, not the performance of the heating system.
More natural alternatives to está fraco would be:
- O aquecimento da casa está fraco no inverno. – The heating is weak in winter.
- O aquecimento da casa não chega para o inverno. – The heating is not enough for winter.
- O aquecimento da casa funciona mal no inverno. – The heating works badly in winter.
So, for how well the system heats, fraco is the right kind of adjective.
No inverno literally means in the winter.
It is a contraction:
- em = in / on / at
- o = the (masculine singular)
- em + o → no
So:
- no inverno = em o inverno → in the winter
Similar patterns:
- no verão – in the summer
- no outono – in the autumn / fall
- na primavera – in the spring (em + a → na, feminine)
In European Portuguese, seasons are usually used with the definite article:
- no inverno – in (the) winter
- no verão – in (the) summer
- no outono – in (the) autumn
- na primavera – in (the) spring
You can sometimes see seasons without the article in more formal, literary, or fixed expressions, but the normal everyday way, especially with em, is with the article:
- Everyday, natural: no inverno faz frio – it is cold in winter.
- More literary or headline style (less common in speech): Inverno frio este ano – Cold winter this year.
So, for speaking, no inverno is what you should default to.
Yes. Both are correct and natural:
O aquecimento da casa está fraco no inverno.
Neutral order; focus starts on the heating of the house.No inverno, o aquecimento da casa está fraco.
Emphasises in winter (you are talking about that time of year first).
You can also say:
- No inverno, o aquecimento da casa fica fraco.
Using fica (gets / becomes), stressing the change that happens in winter.
What you usually do not say is something like:
- O aquecimento no inverno da casa está fraco. – sounds odd and unnatural.
So, moving no inverno to the beginning is fine and often used for emphasis.
A fairly careful European Portuguese pronunciation would be roughly:
- O – [u] (like a short oo in too, but shorter)
- aquecimento – [ɐ.kɐj.siˈmẽ.tu]
- stress on men (-mẽ-)
- da – [dɐ]
- casa – [ˈkazɐ]
- stress on ca-
- está – [ʃˈta] (sounds like shta)
- fraco – [ˈfɾa.ku]
- trilled or tapped r
- no – [nu]
- inverno – [ĩˈvɛɾ.nu]
- stress on ver (vɛɾ)
Spoken smoothly, you might hear something like:
[u ɐ.kɐj.siˈmẽ.tu dɐ ˈkazɐ ʃˈta ˈfɾa.ku nu ĩˈvɛɾ.nu]
Grammatically, the sentence is perfectly fine in Brazilian Portuguese too:
- O aquecimento da casa está fraco no inverno.
The main differences are:
Pronunciation – Brazilian Portuguese would pronounce it more like:
[o a.ke.siˈmẽ.tu da ˈkazɐ isˈta ˈfɾa.ku nu ĩˈvɛʁ.nu]
(clearer vowels; está usually is-tá rather than shtá; different r sound).Word choice – Brazilians might also say things like:
- O aquecedor da casa é fraco no inverno. (using aquecedor = heater)
- O aquecimento da casa é ruim no inverno. (using ruim = bad)
But your original sentence is fully understandable and correct in both varieties; it just sounds especially typical of European Portuguese pronunciation.