Sem farinha, não consigo fazer massa de pizza.

Sem means without. Portuguese often uses a short phrase like Sem farinha at the beginning to set the condition first:

• Sem farinha, não consigo fazer massa de pizza.
• Literally: Without flour, I can’t manage to make pizza dough.

This is very natural in Portuguese. You could also place that idea later in the sentence, but the version given sounds clear and idiomatic.

The comma separates the introductory phrase from the main clause.

• Sem farinha, = introductory condition
• não consigo fazer massa de pizza = main statement

In English we often do the same:

• Without flour, I can’t make pizza dough.

It helps readability and is standard punctuation here.

Yes, sem usually means without.

Examples:

• sem açúcar = without sugar
• sem dinheiro = without money
• sem tempo = without time

It does not change form for gender or number, so it always stays sem.

Não consigo fazer means I can’t manage to make or simply I can’t make.

• consigo comes from conseguir, which means to manage to / to be able to
• fazer means to make / to do

So:

• não consigo fazer massa de pizza = I can’t make pizza dough / I’m unable to make pizza dough

If you said não faço massa de pizza, that usually means:

• I don’t make pizza dough or
• I’m not making pizza dough

So não consigo fazer expresses inability, while não faço does not necessarily.

They are similar, but not always identical.

• não consigo fazer = I can’t manage to make / I’m unable to make
• não posso fazer = I can’t / I’m not allowed to make

In this sentence, não consigo is better because the problem is practical: without flour, making dough is not possible. Não posso could sound more like permission or external restriction, although in some contexts it can also mean inability.

Because after conseguir, Portuguese normally uses another verb in the infinitive.

Structure:

• conseguir + infinitive

Examples:

• Consigo nadar. = I can/manage to swim.
• Não consigo dormir. = I can’t sleep.
• Não consigo fazer massa de pizza. = I can’t make pizza dough.

This is very common and important in Portuguese grammar.

Portuguese often drops the subject pronoun when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

• consigo clearly means I manage / I can
• so eu is optional

You can say:

• Sem farinha, não consigo fazer massa de pizza. or
• Sem farinha, eu não consigo fazer massa de pizza.

Both are correct. Including eu adds emphasis or contrast.

Massa can mean different things depending on context. Here it means dough.

So:

• massa de pizza = pizza dough

But massa can also refer to:

• pasta in some contexts
• batter
• pastry/dough
• more generally, a soft mixture

Context is very important. In this sentence, because of de pizza, it clearly means pizza dough.

Massa de pizza means pizza dough in a general sense: dough for pizza.

• de pizza = of pizza / for pizza

This is the usual way to make this kind of noun phrase in Portuguese:

• massa de pão = bread dough
• molho de tomate = tomato sauce
• sumo de laranja = orange juice

If you said massa da pizza, it would usually mean the dough of the pizza, referring to a specific pizza. That is a different meaning.

In Portuguese, articles are often omitted when talking about a substance in a general way.

• Sem farinha = without flour

This is similar to English, where we also usually say without flour, not without the flour, unless we mean specific flour already mentioned.

If you said sem a farinha, it would usually refer to a specific flour:

• Sem a farinha que compraste, não consigo fazer massa de pizza.
• Without the flour you bought, I can’t make pizza dough.

Yes, that is understandable and grammatically correct. But the nuance is slightly different.

• não consigo fazer = I can’t manage to make it / I’m unable to make it
• não posso fazer = I can’t make it / I’m not able or allowed to

In this context, não consigo sounds more natural because the sentence is about lacking a necessary ingredient, so the issue is practical ability.

The original sentence is already natural. In more everyday speech, someone might also say:

• Sem farinha, não dá para fazer massa de pizza.
• Sem farinha, não consigo fazer massa para pizza.

A few notes:

• não dá para... is a very common informal way to say it’s not possible to...
• massa de pizza and massa para pizza are both possible, though massa de pizza is very common

The given sentence is perfectly good Portuguese from Portugal.

In European Portuguese, consigo is roughly pronounced like kun-SEE-goo, but with a more reduced unstressed vowel sound than in English.

A few helpful points:

• não in European Portuguese is often pronounced somewhat like nãw
• consigo has stress on si
• pizza is pronounced close to PEET-sa
• farinha sounds roughly like fah-REEN-ya

A full approximate pronunciation:

• Sem farinha, não consigo fazer massa de pizza.
• roughly: Seng fah-REEN-ya, nãw kun-SEE-goo fah-ZAIR MAH-suh d’PEET-sa

This is only an approximation, but it may help you recognize the sentence.