Word
Eles faliram e a falência foi um fracasso péssimo.
Meaning
They went bankrupt and the bankruptcy was an awful failure.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Eles faliram e a falência foi um fracasso péssimo.
ser
to be
e
and
eles
they (m)
um
a / an / some (all forms)
Questions & Answers about Eles faliram e a falência foi um fracasso péssimo.
The words "faliram" and "falência" look very similar. Are they related?
Yes, they share the same root. Falir is the verb meaning "to go bankrupt" or "to fail" (financially). Here it is conjugated in the simple past as eles faliram. A falência is the noun form, meaning "the bankruptcy".
What is the difference between "falência" and "fracasso" if both can mean "failure"?
Falência specifically refers to financial bankruptcy or a literal breakdown/collapse (like organ failure). Fracasso is a more general, everyday word for a "failure" or a "flop"—such as a project that went wrong, a movie that nobody watched, or a bad life decision.
Why use "péssimo" instead of just saying "muito mau"?
Péssimo is the absolute superlative form of mau (bad), meaning "awful" or "terrible". While you could say muito mau, using strong single-word adjectives like péssimo, ótimo (great), or enorme (huge) is very common in Portuguese and makes you sound much more fluent at the B1 level.
Could I change the word order and say "um péssimo fracasso"?
Yes, you absolutely can! Placing a descriptive or evaluative adjective before the noun is a common way to add emotion or emphasis in Portuguese. Um fracasso péssimo states the terrible failure as a matter of fact, while um péssimo fracasso highlights your personal, emotional judgment of just how awful it was.