Questions & Answers about O exame foi um desastre.
Word by word:
- O – the (masculine singular definite article)
- exame – exam / test
- foi – was (past tense of ser – to be)
- um – a / one (masculine singular indefinite article)
- desastre – disaster
So the whole sentence is “The exam was a disaster.”
Both foi and era translate as “was”, but they’re different past tenses of ser:
foi – past simple (pretérito perfeito), used for:
- completed events
- “one-off” situations with a clear time frame
era – past imperfect (pretérito imperfeito), used for:
- ongoing situations in the past
- background descriptions
- repeated / habitual actions
In O exame foi um desastre., the exam is a single, finished event on a specific day, so Portuguese uses foi.
Using O exame era um desastre. would sound odd; it could work only in some special contexts (e.g. talking about an exam that existed for a long period and was poorly designed in general), but for a one-time test you took, foi is the natural choice.
Portuguese distinguishes:
- ser – essential, defining, or inherent characteristics; evaluations and judgments
- estar – temporary states, locations, ongoing conditions
Judging the exam as a disaster is an evaluative statement about what it was, not about a temporary state it was “in”, so you use ser:
- O exame foi um desastre. – The exam was a disaster. (evaluation)
- Compare: O exame estava difícil. – The exam was difficult. (describing its temporary level of difficulty)
You would not say O exame esteve um desastre in standard Portuguese.
In Portuguese, singular countable nouns almost always need an article (o / a / um / uma) unless there is a specific reason to omit it. So:
- O exame foi um desastre. – grammatically normal
- Exame foi um desastre. – feels incomplete or like a headline / note, not normal speech
You choose the type of article depending on what you mean:
- O exame foi um desastre.
- the exam (a specific exam both speakers know about)
- Um exame foi um desastre.
- an exam / one exam was a disaster (not specified which one; less common in practice here)
For “the exam I just took”, O exame is the correct and natural choice.
You generally have to learn the gender with the noun, but there are some patterns:
- Nouns ending in -e can be masculine or feminine. There is no reliable rule:
- masculine: o exame, o leite (milk), o restaurante
- feminine: a frase (sentence), a ponte (bridge), a noite (night)
So with exame, you just memorize:
- o exame (singular)
- os exames (plural)
A dictionary will indicate this as, for example: exame (nome masculino) or exame s.m.
Both are possible, but they are not equally natural here:
O exame foi um desastre.
- very common, sounds natural
- the pattern ser + um/uma + noun is the usual way to say “was a disaster / was a mess / was a problem”
O exame foi desastre.
- grammatically possible, but sounds marked, a bit abrupt or “headline-like”
- in everyday speech it would sound strange in Portugal
In this type of evaluation, Portuguese almost always uses the indefinite article:
- Foi um desastre. – It was a disaster.
- Foi uma vergonha. – It was a shame.
- Foi um sucesso. – It was a success.
Yes, and both are correct:
O exame foi um desastre.
- uses a noun (desastre)
- very common in speech
- sounds a bit more emotional or emphatic in everyday language
O exame foi desastroso.
- uses an adjective (desastroso = disastrous)
- also correct and common
- can sound a little more formal or neutral, depending on context
Meaning-wise, they are very close. In casual speech, foi um desastre is extremely frequent.
Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation:
O exame – [u iˈzɐm(ɨ)]
- O – [u] (like English “oo” in food, but shorter)
- exame – stress on -za-: e-ZA-me
- x here is pronounced like z
- final e is very reduced, often like a weak “uh” or almost silent
foi – [foj]
- like foy in English “foy”, or “foy” in “Floyd” without the l
um – [ũ]
- nasal vowel, a bit like saying “oo” while letting air pass through your nose
- you don’t really pronounce an m at the end; it just nasalizes the vowel
desastre – [dɨˈzaʃtɾ(ɨ)]
- stress on -zas-: de-ZAS-tre
- initial de- is a very reduced sound, like a quick weak “dih”
- s between vowels is z: za
- stre: ʃtɾ(ɨ) – the tr is pronounced with a flipped r
Spoken at normal speed, the whole sentence flows together roughly like:
- [u iˈzɐm foj ũ dɨˈzaʃtɾ(ɨ)]
Yes. Foi is the past simple of ser (to be) and ir (to go):
- Ele foi médico. – He was a doctor. (ser)
- Ele foi ao médico. – He went to the doctor. (ir)
Context tells you which verb is meant:
With a / ao / à / para
- place, it usually means “went”:
- Ele foi ao exame. – He went to the exam.
With a noun that describes a role or evaluation, it means “was”:
- O exame foi um desastre. – The exam was a disaster.
- A festa foi um sucesso. – The party was a success.
In O exame foi um desastre., desastre can’t be a destination, so foi must be “was” (ser).
You can, but it sounds marked and usually requires a particular emphasis or context.
O exame foi um desastre.
- neutral, natural word order: subject – verb – complement
Foi um desastre o exame.
- places emphasis on foi um desastre
- could be used in speech for dramatic effect or in writing for stylistic reasons
- sounds less neutral, not what you’d learn as the standard pattern
For normal, everyday speech, stick with O exame foi um desastre.
Desastre is masculine in Portuguese:
- um desastre (a disaster)
- o desastre (the disaster)
That is why the indefinite article is um, not uma:
- O exame foi um desastre. ✅
- O exame foi uma desastre. ❌ (wrong; article and noun don’t agree)
The gender of desastre does not have to match the gender of exame (though in this case, both happen to be masculine). Agreement is always between the noun and its own articles/adjectives, not between different nouns.
Yes. If the context already makes it clear what you’re talking about, you can just say:
- Foi um desastre. – It was a disaster.
For example, if a friend asks:
- Como correu o exame? – How did the exam go?
- Foi um desastre. – It was a disaster.
In speech, this is very common and sounds completely natural.