Breakdown of O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
Questions & Answers about O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
O is the masculine singular definite article, roughly like “the” in English.
In Portuguese, definite articles are used more often than in English, especially:
- with general statements:
- O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
→ The climate in this village is pleasant.
- O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
- with abstract or generic nouns:
- O amor é importante. → Love is important.
So O clima here is “the climate”, but in English we might just say “the climate” or even “climate” without the article, depending on context.
You would normally include O in this sentence:
- O clima nesta aldeia é agradável. ✅
- Clima nesta aldeia é agradável. ❌ (sounds wrong/unnatural)
In Portuguese (especially in European usage):
clima = climate
- More about the typical, long-term characteristics of weather in a place.
- O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
→ The climate here is generally pleasant.
tempo = weather (also time in other contexts)
- More about current or short-term conditions.
- O tempo hoje está agradável.
→ The weather today is pleasant.
You can say:
- O tempo nesta aldeia é agradável.
This tends to sound like: The weather in this village (generally) is pleasant – focusing more on day‑to‑day weather rather than the broader idea of climate.
So clima in the original sentence suggests a more general, habitual characteristic of the village.
In European Portuguese:
- aldeia ≈ village, but with a strong sense of a small, rural settlement.
- It usually suggests:
- a small place in the countryside
- a traditional or older community
- fewer services and infrastructure than a vila or cidade
Rough size/feeling (very roughly!):
- aldeia → small rural village
- vila → town / large village, more developed
- cidade → city
So nesta aldeia is best understood as “in this (small rural) village”, not just any generic populated place.
Nesta is a contraction of em + esta:
- em = in / on / at
- esta = this (feminine, singular)
- em
- esta → nesta
Portuguese commonly contracts certain prepositions with demonstratives and articles:
- em
- este(s) → neste(s)
- em
- esta(s) → nesta(s)
- em
- esse(s) → nesse(s)
- em
- essa(s) → nessa(s)
- em
- aquele(s) → naquele(s)
- em
- aquela(s) → naquela(s)
Because aldeia is feminine singular, we use esta → nesta:
- em esta aldeia ❌ (grammatical but sounds wrong / unidiomatic)
- nesta aldeia ✅ (natural)
Grammatical gender in Portuguese is mostly lexical (built into the word), not purely based on the ending.
aldeia
- Ends in -a and is feminine: a aldeia, esta aldeia
- This matches a common pattern: many -a nouns are feminine.
clima
- Also ends in -a, but is masculine: o clima, este clima
- Some masculine nouns of Greek/learned origin end in -a:
- o problema, o sistema, o tema, o clima
You simply have to memorise the gender with the noun:
- o clima (masc.)
- a aldeia (fem.)
The usual, neutral order in Portuguese is:
article + noun + (other stuff) + adjective
So the normal structure is:
- O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
- clima (noun)
- agradável (adjective) comes after the verb é, describing the subject.
When the adjective directly modifies the noun (without a verb), the most typical neutral order is still:
- um clima agradável ✅ (a pleasant climate)
- um agradável clima ❌ / very marked, poetic or unusual
Adjectives can come before nouns in Portuguese, but:
- This is often stylistic, emphatic, or changes the nuance.
- For this specific word, agradável is almost always after the noun or after the verb:
Natural examples:
- Este clima é agradável.
- Um clima agradável.
So you would not normally say agradável clima in everyday speech.
The verbs:
- ser (é) → used for permanent, inherent, or defining characteristics.
- estar (está) → used for temporary states or conditions.
In this sentence:
- O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
→ This describes a general, permanent characteristic of the village’s climate.
→ So é (from ser) is the natural choice.
If you said:
- O clima nesta aldeia está agradável.
it would sound like you’re talking about how the climate or weather is right now or in a particular period, as if it has changed temporarily. That’s less usual for clima, but possible in a specific context (e.g. comparing different years).
Agradável is an adjective that ends in -vel, and this type:
- does not change between masculine and feminine
- does change between singular and plural
Forms:
- Masculine singular: agradável
- O clima é agradável.
- Feminine singular: agradável
- A aldeia é agradável.
- Masculine plural: agradáveis
- Os climas são agradáveis.
- Feminine plural: agradáveis
- As aldeias são agradáveis.
So the change only appears in the plural (adding -eis in spelling, pronounced with a final -is sound).
Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation (IPA):
O clima → /u ˈklimɐ/
- O is usually just /u/ (like “oo” in food, but shorter).
- Stress on clí-: CLI-ma.
nesta → /ˈnɛʃ.tɐ/
- e in nes- like “e” in bed.
- s before t is pronounced like English “sh”: “neshta”.
aldeia → /alˈdɐj.ɐ/
- Stress on dei: al-DEI-a.
- ei → like “ay” in day.
- Final -a is a reduced /ɐ/ sound.
é → /ɛ/
- Open “eh” sound, and it’s stressed because it’s a single word.
agradável → /ɐɣɾɐˈðavɛɫ/
- Initial a reduced: /ɐ/.
- gr with a guttural g (like French/Portuguese r in the throat for many speakers).
- d between vowels often sounds like a soft ð (like “th” in this).
- Stress on dá: a-gra-DÁ-vel.
Spoken more smoothly and naturally, it flows something like:
/u ˈklimɐ ˈnɛʃ.tɐ alˈdɐj.ɐ ɛ ɐɣɾɐˈðavɛɫ/
Yes, you can say:
- Nesta aldeia, o clima é agradável. ✅
This is perfectly natural. The difference is mainly focus:
O clima nesta aldeia é agradável.
- Neutral focus on the climate as the main subject.
Nesta aldeia, o clima é agradável.
- Puts a bit more emphasis on the location (“in this village, [at least] the climate is pleasant”).
- This kind of fronting of nesta aldeia is common and sounds natural in speech and writing.
The basic meaning doesn’t change, but the starting point of the sentence (what you’re highlighting first) shifts to the place rather than the climate.