Esta música faz-me lembrar o verão no campo.

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Questions & Answers about Esta música faz-me lembrar o verão no campo.

Why is it esta música and not este música?

Because música is a feminine singular noun. In Portuguese, demonstratives have to agree with the noun’s gender and number.

So you get:

  • esta música
  • essa música
  • a música

If the noun were masculine, you would use este instead:

  • este livro
Why does the sentence use esta and not essa?

In European Portuguese, esta usually means this, something close to the speaker, while essa usually means that, something closer to the listener or less immediate.

So esta música presents it as this song. In real conversation, speakers are not always perfectly strict about this distinction, but that is the basic rule.

What does faz-me lembrar mean exactly?

Literally, it means makes me remember. In natural English, the best equivalent is often reminds me of.

A quick breakdown:

  • faz = it makes / does from fazer
  • me = me
  • lembrar = to remember / to remind

So the structure is basically This song makes me remember...

Why is me attached after faz with a hyphen?

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

So you get forms like:

  • faz-me
  • diz-me
  • dá-lhe

The hyphen is the normal written form.

This is one of the big differences from Brazilian Portuguese, where me faz is much more common.

Why isn’t it me faz lembrar?

In standard European Portuguese, faz-me lembrar is the normal order in a simple affirmative sentence. me faz lembrar sounds Brazilian or non-standard in Portugal.

However, some words and structures pull the pronoun before the verb in European Portuguese, for example:

  • Não me faz lembrar...
  • Quando me faz lembrar...

So pronoun position depends on the grammar of the sentence.

Why is there no de after lembrar?

Because this sentence uses the pattern fazer alguém lembrar algo.

Here:

  • me = the person who remembers
  • o verão no campo = what is remembered

So lembrar takes the remembered thing directly.

Compare that with the very common pronominal form lembrar-se de:

  • Lembro-me do verão no campo. = I remember the summer in the countryside.

So these are different structures:

  • faz-me lembrar o verão...
  • lembro-me do verão...
Could I also say Esta música lembra-me o verão no campo?

Yes. That is also natural in European Portuguese.

It means roughly:

  • Esta música lembra-me o verão no campo. = This song reminds me of summer in the countryside.

The difference is small:

  • faz-me lembrar = makes me remember
  • lembra-me = reminds me of

Both are common, but faz-me lembrar is a very everyday, idiomatic way to express the idea.

Why is it o verão and not just verão?

Portuguese often uses the definite article where English would not. That is very common with seasons:

  • o verão
  • o inverno
  • a primavera

So o verão is perfectly natural here, even though English usually just says summer without the.

What does no campo mean, and why is it no?

no is a contraction of em + o:

  • em o campono campo

campo can mean field, but in this sentence no campo most naturally means in the countryside or in a rural area.

So o verão no campo means summer in the countryside.

What does no campo attach to? Is it describing the song, the remembering, or the summer?

The most natural reading is that it describes o verão.

So the sentence is best understood as:

  • Esta música
  • faz-me lembrar
  • o verão no campo

In other words, the thing being remembered is the summer in the countryside, not remembering while in the countryside.

Can música really mean song here? I thought it meant music.

Yes. música can mean music in general, but it can also mean a piece of music or a song, depending on context.

In this sentence, it clearly refers to a specific song or musical piece.

If you want a word that is more specifically song, you can use canção:

  • Esta canção faz-me lembrar o verão no campo.

That is also correct, but música is completely natural here.