Doing Things to Excess: "Fartar-se de"
The reflexive verb fartar-se followed by the preposition de and an infinitive verb creates a very common Portuguese expression. Depending on the context, it translates to doing something excessively, or getting completely sick and tired of doing something.
Relentless Actions
When talking about bugs on a summer night, they don't just buzz a little; they do it relentlessly. You can use fartar-se de + infinitive to emphasize that an action is happening a whole lot.
| The gnats buzz excessively at night. | As melgas fartam-se de zumbir à noite. |
Getting Sick of Something
Naturally, when something happens excessively, it can become exasperating (desesperante). You use the exact same structure to say you are "sick of" or "fed up with" an action.
Because this is a reflexive verb, remember to change the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos) to match the person experiencing it. As a quick reminder, words like não (not) and já (already) will pull the reflexive pronoun directly in front of the verb.
| I get sick of scratching the itch. | Eu farto-me de coçar a comichão. |
| Do you not get sick of hearing that buzzing? | Tu não te fartas de ouvir esse zumbido? |
| It is exasperating, we already got sick of fixing the mosquito net. | É desesperante, nós já nos fartámos de arranjar a mosquiteira. |
Dealing with the Pests
Beyond complaining about the buzzing, you will also practice vocabulary for dealing with the consequences of these summer pests, like itchy skin and applying insecticide.
| If you scratch like that, your arm is going to swell. | Se tu coças assim, o teu braço vai inchar. |
| The gnats are a problem, so they killed them with the insecticide. | As melgas são um problema, por isso eles mataram-nas com o inseticida. |
