Breakdown of Este ano não houve aumento de salário, por isso precisamos de poupar mais.
Questions & Answers about Este ano não houve aumento de salário, por isso precisamos de poupar mais.
Houve is the third‑person singular of the verb haver in the preterite (simple past) tense.
In this sentence, não houve aumento de salário means “there was no pay rise / salary increase.”
Here haver is used impersonally, in the sense of “there is / there was”:
- há = there is / there are
- houve = there was / there were
In European Portuguese, the standard and most natural way to say “there is/are” or “there was/were” in neutral or formal language is with haver:
- Há um problema. – There is a problem.
- Houve um problema. – There was a problem.
You might hear ter used this way in informal speech (especially in Brazil), e.g. teve um problema, but in Portugal não houve aumento de salário sounds more correct and neutral than não teve aumento de salário in this context.
Aumento de salário is the most common way to say “pay rise / salary increase.”
- aumento de salário = salary increase (general expression)
You could say aumento no salário (increase in the salary) or aumento do salário (the salary’s increase) in some contexts, but:
- aumento de salário is the set phrase people usually use.
- do/no salário tends to sound more specific, as if you’re focusing on a particular salary or structure, rather than the general idea of a pay rise.
Also, in Portuguese it’s very common to join two nouns with de:
- aumento de preço – price increase
- corte de despesas – cut in expenses
In European Portuguese, the usual structure is:
- precisar de + infinitive / noun
- Precisamos de poupar mais. – We need to save more.
- Preciso de dinheiro. – I need money.
So in Portugal, de is normally required here: precisar de poupar.
In Brazilian Portuguese, leaving out the de is much more common with verbs:
- Precisamos poupar mais. (BR, common)
- Precisamos de poupar mais. (BR, possible but sounds more formal/less usual)
For Portugal, precisamos de poupar mais is the natural choice.
No, that’s not natural here.
With precisar de, you use a bare infinitive:
- Precisamos de poupar mais. ✅
Adding -mos (as in pouparmos) makes it a personal infinitive, which doesn’t fit after precisar de in this structure. So precisamos de pouparmos mais sounds wrong to native speakers.
In Portuguese, as in English, the present tense is often used to express a current necessity that includes the near future:
- precisamos de poupar mais
= we need to save more (starting now / from now on).
Precisaremos de poupar mais (future) is grammatically correct but:
- sounds more planned or speculative, like a prediction: “we will need to save more (later)”.
- is less common in everyday speech than the present in this meaning.
So precisamos de poupar mais is more natural here.
Yes, por isso works very much like English “so / therefore” introducing a consequence:
- Não houve aumento de salário, por isso precisamos de poupar mais.
= There was no pay rise, so we need to save more.
You can sometimes use então in similar places, but there are differences:
- por isso = “for that reason / therefore”; a bit clearer and more neutral.
- então can mean “so / then / in that case” and is also a common conversation filler.
In this sentence, por isso is the best, most natural choice.
Então precisamos de poupar mais is possible, but it slightly shifts the tone towards a more spoken / informal feel and can sound more like “in that case, we need to save more”.
The comma separates:
- the cause: Este ano não houve aumento de salário
- from the consequence: por isso precisamos de poupar mais
In writing, a comma is normally used before por isso when it starts a new clause meaning “so / therefore”.
You could also write:
- Este ano não houve aumento de salário. Por isso, precisamos de poupar mais.
Both versions are correct; it’s mainly a stylistic choice.
Houve is preterite (simple past) of haver.
Havia is imperfect past of haver.
Este ano não houve aumento de salário.
= This year there was no salary increase (at all).
A completed fact, seen as a single event.Quando eu trabalhava lá, quase nunca havia aumentos de salário.
= When I worked there, there were almost never pay rises.
Describes an ongoing or repeated situation in the past.
In your sentence, we’re talking about a specific, finished period (this year), so houve is the natural choice.
Yes, that’s also correct and natural:
- Este ano não tivemos aumento de salário.
= This year we didn’t get a pay rise.
Differences in nuance:
- não houve aumento de salário – slightly more impersonal/neutral (“there was no pay rise (for anyone)”).
- não tivemos aumento de salário – more personal (“we didn’t get a pay rise”).
Both are fine; which you choose depends on whether you want to emphasise the general fact or your group’s experience.
In European Portuguese, este is normally used for time periods that include the present moment:
- este ano – this year (the year we are in now)
- este mês, esta semana, este fim de semana
Esse ano is much more typical in Brazilian Portuguese for “this year” in everyday speech. In Portugal:
- este ano = the natural, standard option for “this year”.