Breakdown of Pois é, estou à espera há duas horas.
ser
to be
estar
to be (temporary / location)
dois
two
a hora
the hour
Questions & Answers about Pois é, estou à espera há duas horas.
Why do we use pois é here instead of just saying sim?
Pois é is a very common phrase used to agree with, confirm, or validate something the other person just said or implied. While sim just means 'yes', pois é carries the feeling of 'That's right', 'Indeed', or 'Yeah, exactly'.
Why does the sentence use estou à espera instead of estou a esperar?
While estou a esperar is grammatically correct, it sounds a bit unnatural. The fixed expression estar à espera (literally 'to be at the wait') is the standard, most natural way to express 'to be waiting' in European Portuguese.
The English translation says 'I have been waiting', but estou is in the present tense. Why?
In Portuguese, if an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you just use the present tense. By combining the present tense estou with há (for elapsed time), it covers exactly what English expresses with 'have been waiting'.
Could I use por instead of há to say 'for two hours'?