O cheiro do café faz-me lembrar o meu pai.

The smell of coffee reminds me of my father.

Breakdown of O cheiro do café faz-me lembrar o meu pai.

• meu: my
• o café: the coffee
• de: of
• o pai: the father
• me: me
• fazer lembrar: to remind
• o cheiro: the smell

Questions & Answers about O cheiro do café faz-me lembrar o meu pai.

What does cheiro mean here?

Cheiro means smell. Depending on context, it can also be understood as scent or odor, but here smell is the most neutral translation.

So o cheiro do café is the smell of the coffee or the smell of coffee.

Why is there o at the start: O cheiro?

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• o cheiro = the smell
• cheiro by itself = smell as a general idea, or part of another structure

In this sentence, Portuguese needs the article, so O cheiro do café is the natural way to say it.

Why is it do café and not de o café?

Because de + o contracts to do in Portuguese.

So:

• de + o = do
• de + a = da
• de + os = dos
• de + as = das

That means:

• o cheiro do café = the smell of the coffee

This contraction is compulsory in normal Portuguese.

Why is the verb faz?

Faz is the he/she/it form of fazer, meaning to make or, in this kind of sentence, to make someone remember / to remind someone of.

The subject is O cheiro do café, which is singular, so the verb must also be singular:

• O cheiro do café faz...
• not fazem

Literally, the structure is something like:

• The smell of the coffee makes me remember my father

Why is it faz-me with the pronoun after the verb?

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

So:

• faz-me
• diz-me
• leva-o

This is very normal in Portugal. The hyphen shows that the pronoun is attached to the verb.

Here, me means me:

• faz-me lembrar = makes me remember / reminds me

Could I also say me faz lembrar?

In standard European Portuguese, faz-me lembrar is the normal choice.

Me faz lembrar is much more associated with Brazilian Portuguese word order, and it sounds non-European to most speakers from Portugal.

So if you are learning Portuguese from Portugal, prefer:

• O cheiro do café faz-me lembrar o meu pai.

Why is it lembrar and not lembrar-me de?

That is because this sentence uses the pattern:

• fazer alguém lembrar alguma coisa / alguém

So:

• faz-me lembrar o meu pai = makes me remember my father / reminds me of my father

But when you remember something yourself, Portuguese often uses:

• lembrar-se de

For example:

• Lembro-me do meu pai. = I remember my father.

So the difference is:

• I remember X → lembro-me de X
• Something reminds me of X → faz-me lembrar X

Why is it o meu pai and not just meu pai?

In European Portuguese, possessives are very often used with the definite article.

So the normal form is:

• o meu pai = my father
• a minha mãe = my mother
• o meu carro = my car

In Portugal, leaving out the article can sound unnatural in many ordinary sentences. So o meu pai is the expected European Portuguese form here.

Is there any difference between o cheiro do café and o cheiro de café?

Yes, there can be a small difference in nuance.

• o cheiro do café often suggests the smell of the coffee, possibly a specific coffee
• o cheiro de café often means the smell of coffee more generally

In real life, the distinction is not always huge, and context matters. But your sentence with do café is perfectly natural.

What is the basic sentence structure here?

The structure is:

• O cheiro do café = subject
• faz-me lembrar = verb phrase
• o meu pai = what I am reminded of

So, piece by piece:

• O cheiro do café = the smell of the coffee
• faz-me = makes me
• lembrar o meu pai = remember my father

A very literal breakdown is:

• The smell of the coffee makes me remember my father.

Natural English would usually be:

• The smell of coffee reminds me of my father.

How is this pronounced in European Portuguese?

A rough pronunciation guide is:

u SHAY-ru du ka-FEH faz-mə ləm-BRAR u may-o PIE

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• O at the start sounds more like u in European Portuguese.
• cheiro sounds roughly like SHAY-roo, though the final vowel is weaker than in English.
• faz-me is often said very smoothly, almost like fazmə.
• meu sounds roughly like may-o, but quickly, almost as one syllable plus a glide.
• pai sounds like pie.

If you want to sound more European Portuguese, remember that unstressed vowels are often reduced, so the sentence sounds more compact than it looks.