É perigoso atravessar a ponte quando o chão está molhado.

to be

Breakdown of É perigoso atravessar a ponte quando o chão está molhado.

• estar: to be
• quando: when
• perigoso: dangerous

Questions & Answers about É perigoso atravessar a ponte quando o chão está molhado.

Why does the sentence start with É? What is the subject?

This is an impersonal structure, very common in Portuguese.

• É perigoso... = It is dangerous...
• The it in English is only a dummy subject. Portuguese often does not use a dummy subject here.

So:

• É perigoso atravessar a ponte.
• Literally: Is dangerous to cross the bridge
• Natural English: It is dangerous to cross the bridge

There is no separate word for it in this sentence.

Why is atravessar in the infinitive?

Because after expressions like É perigoso, Portuguese often uses the infinitive to talk about an action in a general way.

So:

• É perigoso atravessar a ponte.
• It is dangerous to cross the bridge.

Here, atravessar means to cross.

This is the same idea as in:

• É fácil aprender. = It is easy to learn.
• É importante descansar. = It is important to rest.

Why is it perigoso and not perigosa?