Log inSign up

O arroz fica pronto em vinte minutos.

O arroz fica pronto em vinte minutos.
The rice is ready in twenty minutes.
From Lesson 255:Na cozinha (o molho, queimar)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of O arroz fica pronto em vinte minutos.

pronto
ready
vinte
twenty
o minuto
the minute
o arroz
the rice

Questions & Answers about O arroz fica pronto em vinte minutos.

Why use fica instead of está to mean that the rice is ready?
In Portuguese, ficar often describes a change of state or the end result of a process. While está pronto just means that it is ready right now, fica pronto implies that it gets ready or will be finished. It perfectly captures the cooking process reaching its end.
Why is the present tense (fica) used if the rice will be ready in the future?
European Portuguese frequently uses the present tense to talk about events happening in the near or scheduled future. It sounds very natural and certain, similar to saying the rice finishes in twenty minutes in English.
Does the word pronto change if the food is feminine?
Yes. Pronto is an adjective, so it must agree with the gender and number of the noun it describes. Because o arroz (the rice) is masculine singular, it is pronto. If you were making soup (a sopa), you would say fica pronta.
Can I use daqui a or dentro de instead of em here?
Yes, absolutely! Saying daqui a vinte minutos (twenty minutes from now) or dentro de vinte minutos (within twenty minutes) are both excellent, very natural European Portuguese alternatives to em for this kind of timeframe.

Learn O arroz fica pronto em vinte minutos and more in Portuguese

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Portuguese →