Breakdown of O fumo denso assusta as crianças.
Questions & Answers about O fumo denso assusta as crianças.
O fumo uses the definite article o (the smoke), which suggests specific or known smoke (for example, the smoke we can see right now, or the smoke from that fire).
Um fumo would literally be a smoke, which is unusual in English and in Portuguese in this context. You’d normally use um fumo only in more special or idiomatic uses (e.g. dar um fumo – to take a drag, in some registers).
So for general or specific smoke as a substance that’s present, o fumo is the natural option.
Fumo is a masculine noun, so it takes o (singular) and os (plural):
- o fumo – the smoke
- os fumos – the smokes (rare; usually only in special contexts)
Many nouns ending in -o are masculine, which is a useful general rule, though there are exceptions. You mainly have to learn each noun’s gender, but the article in a dictionary (o fumo) will show you that it’s masculine.
In Portuguese, the default position of descriptive adjectives is after the noun:
- fumo denso – dense smoke
- casa grande – big house
- noite fria – cold night
Putting the adjective before the noun (denso fumo) is possible but less common and can sound more literary or emphatic, sometimes changing the nuance (for example, evoking a very vivid or poetic image).
In everyday, neutral Portuguese, noun + adjective (fumo denso) is the standard order.
Assusta is:
- the 3rd person singular,
- present indicative of the verb assustar (to frighten, to scare).
Basic present indicative of assustar:
- eu assusto – I scare
- tu assustas – you scare (informal singular, mainly Portugal)
- ele/ela/você assusta – he/she/you (formal) scare(s)
- nós assustamos – we scare
- eles/elas/vocês assustam – they/you (plural) scare
In O fumo denso assusta as crianças, o fumo denso is ele (3rd person singular), so the verb is assusta.
The verb agrees with the subject, not with the object.
- Subject: O fumo denso → singular
- Verb: assusta → singular (matches o fumo)
- Direct object: as crianças → plural (but objects don’t control the verb form)
If the subject were plural, you’d use assustam:
- Os fumos densos assustam as crianças. – The dense smokes frighten the children.
Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English, even when English has no article:
- As crianças gostam de doces. – Children like sweets.
- Os cães são animais fiéis. – Dogs are faithful animals.
Here, as crianças can mean:
- the specific children we know, or
- children as a known group in this situation.
You can say crianças without an article, but that often sounds more like a label or after certain verbs/prepositions (e.g. Ver crianças a brincar faz-me feliz – Seeing children play makes me happy). In this sentence, as crianças is the natural choice.
Às = a (to) + as (the), so it usually marks an indirect object or direction:
- O professor dá livros às crianças. – The teacher gives books to the children.
In O fumo denso assusta as crianças, as crianças is a direct object (the thing being frightened), not an indirect object. The verb assustar in this sense takes a direct object, so you just use the article:
- assustar alguém – to scare someone
Hence: assusta as crianças, not assusta às crianças.
In European Portuguese:
- fumo is the normal, everyday word for smoke (e.g. from a fire, cigarette, chimney).
- fumaça also exists but is much less common and can sound more literary, old-fashioned, or regional.
In Brazilian Portuguese:
- fumaça is the usual everyday word for smoke.
- fumo often refers more to tobacco, especially as a product (e.g. fumo de rolo, plantação de fumo).
Since you specified Portuguese from Portugal, O fumo denso assusta as crianças sounds perfectly normal and natural in European Portuguese.
Fumaça is feminine, so everything that refers to it must agree:
- A fumaça densa assusta as crianças. – The dense smoke frightens the children.
Changes:
- article: o fumo → a fumaça
- adjective: denso (masc.) → densa (fem.), to agree with fumaça
- verb stays assusta, because the subject is still singular (now a fumaça densa).
Adjectives in Portuguese agree in gender and number with the noun they modify:
- o fumo denso – masculine singular
- a fumaça densa – feminine singular
- os fumos densos – masculine plural
- as fumaças densas – feminine plural
Since fumo is masculine singular, the adjective takes the masculine singular form denso.
Yes. Portuguese simple present (assusta) can cover both:
- a general fact: Dense smoke frightens children.
- an action happening now: The dense smoke is frightening the children (right now).
If you want to be very explicit about an action in progress, you can use:
- O fumo denso está a assustar as crianças. (Portugal)
- O fumo denso está assustando as crianças. (Brazil)
But in many contexts, assusta alone is enough and natural.
Negative:
Put não before the verb:
- O fumo denso não assusta as crianças. – The dense smoke does not frighten the children.
Question (yes–no):
Usually, just use question intonation or a question mark; the word order stays the same:
- O fumo denso assusta as crianças? – Does the dense smoke frighten the children?
In speech, your voice rising at the end signals it’s a question.
You can replace as crianças with the object pronoun as (feminine plural) and attach it to the verb:
- O fumo denso assusta-as. – The dense smoke scares them.
In European Portuguese written standard, pronouns usually attach to the verb (especially in affirmative statements). In spoken language you’ll also hear:
- O fumo denso assusta-as. (attaching, standard)
- In some informal speech, variants like O fumo denso assusta elas may occur, but assusta-as is the grammatically correct form.