Weather Uses fazer, Not ser
To describe the weather Portuguese uses fazer impersonally — third person singular, no subject at all:
| faz calor | it is hot |
| faz frio | it is cold |
| faz sol | it is sunny |
| faz vento | it is windy |
The complement is a NOUN — heat, cold, sun, wind — which is why muito and not muita strengthens all four: faz muito calor.
Contrast this carefully with the previous lesson on physical states. tenho calor is what a PERSON feels; faz calor is what the WEATHER does. Saying sou quente about the weather is a mistake learners make once and never forget.
| Today it is very hot. | Hoje faz muito calor. |
Verbs That Need No Subject
nevar joins chover from the last lesson. Both are impersonal: they exist only in the third person singular, and neva means it snows with nothing standing for it.
| In winter it snows. | No inverno neva. |
The Four Seasons
| season | ||
|---|---|---|
| a primavera | spring | feminine |
| o verão | summer | masculine |
| o outono | autumn | masculine |
| o inverno | winter | masculine |
Portuguese writes them in lower case, unlike the days and months you may have seen capitalised in other languages. To place an event in a season, use em plus the article — which contracts: no verão, na primavera.
| In summer it is hot. | No verão faz calor. |
o sol and o vento are ordinary nouns outside the weather expressions, and you will meet them both ways.
