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Portuguese (Portugal)

### Portuguese HAS Hunger, It Is Not Hungry

This is one of the first places Portuguese parts company with English. Where English uses *to be* plus an adjective — *I am hungry* — Portuguese uses **ter** plus a NOUN:

| Portuguese | literally | English |
|---|---|---|
| **tenho fome** | I have hunger | I am hungry |
| **tenho sede** | I have thirst | I am thirsty |
| **tenho sono** | I have sleepiness | I am sleepy |
| **tenho frio** | I have cold | I am cold |
| **tenho calor** | I have heat | I am hot |

Because the complement is a noun, it never agrees with you: a woman says *tenho frio*, not *tenha fria*. And because it is a noun, you intensify it with **muita** or **muito**, not with *very*: *tenho muita fome*, *tenho muito frio*.

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### The Nouns on Their Own

**a sede** and **o sono** are ordinary nouns outside the expression, and you will meet them that way too. Note that *sede* is feminine and *sono* masculine, which is what decides between *muita sede* and *muito sono*.

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### Fear Takes a Preposition

**ter medo de** — *to be afraid of* — adds **de**, and *de* contracts with a following article exactly as it always does: *medo do cão*, *medo da água*.

{{item:955653}}

One warning about **calor**. *Tenho calor* is what a PERSON feels. To say the WEATHER is hot Portuguese uses a different verb — *faz calor* — and that comes later.

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Already and not yet (já, ainda não)

Question	Answer
to be hungry	ter fome
I am hungry and I eat the bread.	Tenho fome e como o pão.
The boy is hungry.	O rapaz tem fome.
to be thirsty	ter sede
I am thirsty and I drink the water.	Tenho sede e bebo a água.
Are you thirsty?	Tu tens sede?
to be sleepy	ter sono
I am sleepy now.	Tenho sono agora.
The girl is sleepy.	A rapariga tem sono.
to be hot (a person)	ter calor
I am hot in the bedroom.	Tenho calor no quarto.
We are hot.	Nós temos calor.
to be cold (a person)	ter frio
I am cold at home.	Tenho frio em casa.
Are you cold?	Vocês têm frio?
to be afraid of	ter medo de
I am afraid of the dog.	Tenho medo do cão.
She is afraid of the cat.	Ela tem medo do gato.
the thirst	a sede
I am very thirsty.	Tenho muita sede.
Thirst is a problem.	A sede é um problema.
the sleepiness / the sleep	o sono
Sleepiness is not a problem.	O sono não é um problema.
I am very sleepy.	Tenho muito sono.

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