O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

My passport is going to expire in June.

Breakdown of O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

• meu: my
• ir: to go
• em: in
• o passaporte: the passport
• junho: June
• expirar: to exhale

Questions & Answers about O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

Why is there an O before meu passaporte? In English we don’t say “the my passport”.

In European Portuguese, it’s normal (and usually preferred) to put a definite article before a possessive:

• O meu passaporte = literally “the my passport”
• A minha casa = “the my house”
• Os meus amigos = “the my friends”

This is very different from English, where you never say the my…

You can say meu passaporte without the article, but:

• In Portugal, dropping the article sounds more:
  • formal, written, or
  • influenced by Brazilian usage.
• In Brazil, the article is usually dropped: meu passaporte, minha casa, etc.

So, in Portugal, O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho is the most natural everyday version.

Could I just say “meu passaporte vai expirar em junho” without the O?

Yes, it’s grammatically correct, but it sounds less typical for European Portuguese.

• With article (most natural in Portugal):
  O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.
• Without article (very common in Brazil; more marked in Portugal):
  Meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

In Portugal, you mainly hear no article:

• in some set phrases (Meu Deus!, Minha nossa!)
• in very formal or legal language
• under Brazilian influence (e.g. TV, music, internet)

For a learner targeting Portuguese from Portugal, keep the article:
O meu passaporte…

Why is it meu and not minha? How do I know the gender here?

The possessive agrees with the grammatical gender of the noun, not the person who owns it.

• passaporte is a masculine noun in Portuguese:
  • o passaporte → o meu passaporte
• If the noun were feminine, you’d use minha:
  • a carteira (wallet) → a minha carteira
  • a mala (suitcase) → a minha mala

So:

• o passaporte → o meu passaporte
• not a minha passaporte (this would be incorrect).

What’s the difference between vai expirar and just expira?

Both are possible:

• O meu passaporte expira em junho.
• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

Meaning: Both mean “My passport expires in June”.

Difference in nuance:

• expira (present)

  • simple, factual statement
  • very common with scheduled or fixed future events
  • like English “The plane leaves at 10”

• vai expirar (ir + infinitive)

  • the “going to” future
  • also very common for future events
  • can sound slightly more focused on the upcoming change (the fact that it’s going to run out)

In everyday speech in Portugal, both are natural, and you’ll hear:

• O meu passaporte expira em junho.
• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

Choose either; you’re safe.

Why not use the future tense “expirará”? Is “O meu passaporte expirará em junho” wrong?

It’s not wrong, but it sounds formal and written.

• O meu passaporte expirará em junho.
  
  • grammatically correct
  • typical in official writing, legal texts, formal notices

In spoken European Portuguese, people strongly prefer:

• O meu passaporte expira em junho. (simple present)
• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho. (ir + infinitive)

The synthetic future (expirará, fará, direi, veremos, etc.) is used, but much less in everyday speech.

I’ve seen “caducar” instead of “expirar”. What’s the difference between “vai expirar” and “vai caducar”?

Both verbs can be used for things that lose validity:

• expirar = to expire
• caducar = to expire / to lapse / to go stale (in some contexts)

For official documents in European Portuguese, you’ll commonly hear:

• O meu passaporte vai caducar em junho.
• O meu cartão de cidadão caduca em junho.

Subtle differences:

• expirar
  
  • directly from Latin, also used in legal/administrative language
  • sounds a bit more technical or formal in some contexts
• caducar
  
  • very idiomatic in Portugal for documents, contracts, deadlines, etc.:
    
    • O prazo já caducou. – The deadline has lapsed.
    • A garantia já caducou. – The warranty has expired.

In practice, in Portugal:

• O meu passaporte expira em junho. ✅
• O meu passaporte caduca em junho. ✅
  Both are fine and natural.

Why is it em junho and not no junho or something else?

With months, Portuguese normally uses em + [month], without an article:

• em janeiro, em fevereiro, em março, em junho, etc.

So:

• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho. ✅
• O meu passaporte vai expirar no junho. ❌ (sounds wrong)

“no” = em + o, so it needs a masculine noun with an article (no verão, no inverno, etc.), but months usually appear without the article:

• no verão – in (the) summer
• em junho – in June
• no mês de junho – in the month of June (here mês carries the article)

Examples:

• Vou de férias em agosto. – I’m going on holiday in August.
• As aulas começam em setembro. – Classes start in September.

Why is “junho” not capitalized like “June” in English?

In Portuguese, months and days of the week are not capitalized, unless they start a sentence or are part of a title.

So you write:

• em junho, em março, em dezembro
• à segunda-feira, na sexta-feira

Compare:

• English: June, March, Monday
• Portuguese: junho, março, segunda-feira

Your sentence is correctly written with lowercase:
O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

Can I change the word order and say “Em junho, o meu passaporte vai expirar”?

Yes. Both orders are correct:

• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.
• Em junho, o meu passaporte vai expirar.

Putting the time expression at the beginning is common and can add slight emphasis to the time:

• Em junho, o meu passaporte vai expirar.
  → As for June, that’s when my passport expires.

But there is no change in basic meaning. Use whichever sounds more natural to you.

Could I just say “O passaporte vai expirar em junho” without meu?

Yes, grammatically it’s fine:

• O passaporte vai expirar em junho.

However, without context it could mean:

• the passport (perhaps a specific one already mentioned)
• not necessarily your passport

If you need to be clear that it’s yours, use:

• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.

In a context where it’s obvious you’re talking about your own passport (for example, at the embassy while already holding it), people will naturally understand O passaporte vai expirar em junho as “My passport…” even without meu.

How do you pronounce “junho”? The nh is confusing.

junho is pronounced approximately like “zhoon-yo” in European Portuguese.

Breakdown:

• j → like the “s” in “measure” /ʒ/
• u → like “oo” in “boot” (but shorter)
• nh → like the “ny” in “canyon” or Spanish ñ in “año”
• o (unstressed at the end) → a very short “oo” /u/ in European Portuguese

So:

• junho → /ˈʒu.ɲu/
  
  • ʒu ~ “zhoo”
  • ɲu ~ “nyoo”

Practice similar words:

• banho – /ˈbɐ.ɲu/
• sonho – /ˈso.ɲu/
• vinho – /ˈvi.ɲu/

Could I use another verb like “acabar” or “terminar” instead of “expirar”?

For official validity (documents, visas, contracts, etc.), Portuguese prefers expirar or caducar, not acabar or terminar.

These sound natural:

• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.
• O meu passaporte vai caducar em junho.

These are not wrong, but they sound less idiomatic for documents:

• O meu passaporte vai acabar em junho.
• O meu passaporte vai terminar em junho.

acabar/terminar are more general:

• As férias acabam em agosto. – The holidays end in August.
• O contrato termina no fim do ano. – The contract ends at the end of the year.

Stick to expirar or caducar for passports and similar documents.

Is “vai expirar” the same as English “is going to expire” in terms of structure?

Yes, it’s very similar in structure and usage:

• Portuguese: ir (conjugated) + infinitive

  • vai expirar – is going to expire
  • vou viajar – I’m going to travel
  • vamos sair – we’re going to go out

• English: to be (conjugated) + going to + verb

  • is going to expire
  • am going to travel
  • are going to go out

So:

• O meu passaporte vai expirar em junho.
  ↔ My passport is going to expire in June.

Functionally, this “ir + infinitive” future is extremely common in speech in Portugal, just like the “going to” future in English.