O bairro é pacífico.

The neighbourhood is peaceful.

Breakdown of O bairro é pacífico.

• ser: to be
• o bairro: the neighbourhood
• pacífico: peaceful

Questions & Answers about O bairro é pacífico.

What exactly does bairro mean, and is it the same as “neighborhood”?

Bairro usually translates as neighborhood, but it’s a bit more specific:

• It’s often a recognized area of a city or town, sometimes with an official name (e.g. o Bairro Alto in Lisbon).
• Vizinhança is more like “the people who live around you” or “the surrounding area” (your neighbors / surroundings), not necessarily an official district.

In this sentence, O bairro é pacífico means the district / neighborhood (this area of town) is peaceful.

Why is it O bairro and not A bairro? How do I know the gender?

In Portuguese, every noun has a grammatical gender. Bairro is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine singular definite article o:

• o bairro = the neighborhood (masculine singular)
• os bairros = the neighborhoods (masculine plural)

There isn’t always a logical reason for gender; you simply learn with the noun. Many nouns ending in -o are masculine (o carro, o livro, o bairro), but there are exceptions, so it’s best to learn o bairro as one unit.

Could I leave out the article and just say Bairro é pacífico?

No, that would sound wrong in standard Portuguese.

When you talk about a specific thing like the neighborhood, you normally need the article:

• ✅ O bairro é pacífico. = The neighborhood is peaceful.
• ❌ Bairro é pacífico. (unnatural / wrong in this context)

Articles in Portuguese are used much more often than in English, especially with general or specific nouns at the start of a sentence.

Why is it é and not está? What’s the difference here?

Portuguese has two verbs for “to be”: ser and estar.

• Ser (é) is used for permanent or defining characteristics.
• Estar (está) is used for temporary states or conditions.

In O bairro é pacífico, being peaceful is presented as a general, stable characteristic of the neighborhood.

Compare:

• O bairro é pacífico.
  → The neighborhood is (in general) peaceful / a peaceful place.

• O bairro está muito pacífico hoje.
  → Today the neighborhood is very peaceful (more peaceful than usual; a temporary state).

How does pacífico agree with bairro? What are the other forms?

Adjectives in Portuguese must agree with the gender and number of the noun.

Since bairro is masculine singular:

• o bairro é pacífico (masculine singular)

Other forms of pacífico:

• Masculine singular: pacífico
• Feminine singular: pacífica
  
  • A cidade é pacífica. (The city is peaceful.)
• Masculine plural: pacíficos
  
  • Os bairros são pacíficos. (The neighborhoods are peaceful.)
• Feminine plural: pacíficas
  
  • As cidades são pacíficas. (The cities are peaceful.)

The sentence shows the masculine singular agreement: o bairro – pacífico.

Can I change the word order, like O bairro pacífico é or É pacífico o bairro?

The normal, neutral order is:

• O bairro é pacífico.

Other possibilities:

• É pacífico, o bairro.
  → This can occur in speech, often with a pause and a special intonation, for emphasis. It sounds more like: “It is peaceful, that neighborhood.”

• O bairro pacífico é.
  → This is not normal and would sound wrong.

So for everyday use, stick with:

• O bairro é pacífico.

How do you pronounce O bairro é pacífico in European Portuguese?

In European Portuguese:

• O → sounds like [u], similar to “oo” in food, but shorter.
• bairro → [ˈbaj.ʁu]
  
  • bai-: like English bye
  • rr: a guttural / throaty sound (like the French or German r)
  • final -o often sounds close to -u in European Portuguese
• é → open [ɛ], like e in English bet
• pacífico → [pɐˈsi.fiku]
  
  • pa-: [pɐ], a short, reduced vowel
  • stress is on -cí- (CI): [ˈsi]
  • final -co: [ku] in European Portuguese

Very roughly: [u BAJ-ʁu ɛ pɐ-SI-fiku]

Is there any difference between pacífico, calmo, and tranquilo?

They’re all related but not identical:

• pacífico

  • Often means peaceful / not prone to conflict or violence.
  • Used for places (um bairro pacífico, uma região pacífica) and for people (uma pessoa pacífica = not aggressive).

• calmo

  • More like calm, often about level of activity or agitation.
  • O bairro é calmo. = The neighborhood is calm/quiet (not much going on, not noisy).

• tranquilo

  • Similar to calmo, often with a sense of relaxed / laid-back / not stressful.
  • É um bairro muito tranquilo. = It’s a very quiet/relaxed neighborhood.

In many contexts, O bairro é pacífico / calmo / tranquilo can all be translated as “The neighborhood is peaceful/quiet,” but:

• pacífico focuses more on absence of conflict/violence.
• calmo / tranquilo focus more on low noise / low movement / relaxed atmosphere.

Can I intensify it, like “very peaceful” or “quite peaceful”?

Yes. Common intensifiers:

• muito pacífico = very peaceful

  • O bairro é muito pacífico.

• bastante pacífico = quite / fairly peaceful

  • O bairro é bastante pacífico.

• bem pacífico (colloquial) = really / pretty peaceful

  • O bairro é bem pacífico.

All of these are natural in European Portuguese, though bem pacífico sounds more informal.

When would I use este bairro instead of o bairro?

• o bairro = the neighborhood (already known from context, or speaking in general about that area).
• este bairro = this neighborhood, specifically the one that is close to you or that you are focusing on right now.

Examples:

• O bairro é pacífico.
  → The neighborhood (that we’re talking about) is peaceful.

• Este bairro é pacífico.
  → This neighborhood (here, where we are / the one we’re indicating) is peaceful.

So este adds the idea of “this one here / the one I’m pointing to”, while o just says “the neighborhood” already known in the conversation.