Log inSign up

A cabeleireira fez-me esperar dez minutos, mas o corte ficou ótimo.

A cabeleireira fez-me esperar dez minutos, mas o corte ficou ótimo.
The hairdresser made me wait ten minutes, but the haircut turned out great.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Portuguese grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Portuguese now

Questions & Answers about A cabeleireira fez-me esperar dez minutos, mas o corte ficou ótimo.

What does cabeleireira mean, and why is it feminine?

Cabeleireira means female hairdresser or female hairstylist. It is the feminine form of cabeleireiro, which is the masculine form.

Portuguese nouns often have grammatical gender, and words for professions can change depending on the sex of the person:

  • o cabeleireiro = the male hairdresser
  • a cabeleireira = the female hairdresser

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a woman, so cabeleireira is used.

Why is there A before cabeleireira?

A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

  • a cabeleireira = the hairdresser

Here it refers to a specific hairdresser, not hairdressers in general. Portuguese uses articles more regularly than English in many contexts, so it is very natural to say A cabeleireira... at the start of a sentence.

What tense are fez and ficou?

Both fez and ficou are in the pretérito perfeito, which is the normal past tense for completed actions in Portuguese.

  • fez = did / made
  • ficou = became / turned out / ended up / was

In this sentence:

  • fez-me esperar describes a completed action in the past
  • o corte ficou ótimo describes the final result

So the whole sentence is talking about a finished past situation.

Why is it fez-me and not me fez?

In European Portuguese, unstressed object pronouns often come after the verb in affirmative main clauses. This is called enclisis.

So:

  • fez-me = made me

The hyphen is required in this structure. In Brazilian Portuguese, me fez is much more common, but in Portugal fez-me is the expected form in a sentence like this.

What does fez-me esperar literally mean?

Literally, it means made me wait.

This uses a very common structure:

  • fazer + alguém + infinitive

In this sentence:

  • fez = made
  • me = me
  • esperar = to wait

So A cabeleireira fez-me esperar means The hairdresser made me wait.

Why is it esperar dez minutos without por?

When Portuguese talks about how long someone waited, it usually just uses the time expression directly:

  • esperar dez minutos = to wait ten minutes

You do not need por before the duration here.

Compare:

  • Esperei dez minutos. = I waited ten minutes.
  • Esperei pela minha amiga. = I waited for my friend.

So:

  • esperar + duration = wait a certain amount of time
  • esperar por / esperar + person or thing = wait for someone or something
What does o corte mean here?

Here o corte means the haircut or the cut.

On its own, corte can mean cut in different contexts, but with a hairdresser it naturally refers to a haircut. Portuguese often leaves out words that are understood from the situation, so o corte is a shorter way of saying o corte de cabelo.

So in this sentence:

  • o corte ficou ótimo = the haircut turned out great
Why does the sentence use ficou ótimo instead of foi ótimo?

Ficou ótimo focuses on the result of the haircut. It means something like:

  • turned out great
  • ended up great
  • looked great

This is a very common use of ficar in Portuguese: it can express the way something ends up after a change or process.

Compare:

  • O corte ficou ótimo. = The haircut turned out great.
  • Foi ótimo. = It was great.
    This would describe the experience more generally, which would sound a bit less precise here because the speaker had to wait.
  • Está ótimo. = It is great.
    This focuses on the current state rather than the result of the haircutting process.

So ficou ótimo is the most natural choice here.

Why is it ótimo and not ótima?

Because ótimo agrees with o corte, and corte is a masculine noun.

In Portuguese, adjectives usually agree in gender and number with the noun they describe:

  • o corte ótimo
  • a ideia ótima

Here:

  • o corte = masculine singular
  • ótimo = masculine singular

So ótimo is correct.

What is the role of mas in the sentence?

Mas means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

  • the hairdresser made the speaker wait ten minutes
  • the haircut turned out great

So the sentence has this structure:

  • something slightly negative
  • followed by a positive result

That contrast is exactly what mas expresses.

Is this sentence specifically European Portuguese? How might it differ in Brazilian Portuguese?

Yes, fez-me is a strong clue that this is European Portuguese.

In Brazil, a speaker would more often say:

  • A cabeleireira me fez esperar dez minutos, mas o corte ficou ótimo.

The meaning is the same, but the pronoun placement is different:

  • European Portuguese: fez-me
  • Brazilian Portuguese: me fez

Everything else in the sentence is understandable in both varieties, but the pronoun position is one of the clearest differences.