Breakdown of Estes recipientes não nos fazem falta.
não
not / no
este
this (+ noun)
fazer
to do
nos
us
fazer falta
the lack
o recipiente
the container
Questions & Answers about Estes recipientes não nos fazem falta.
Why is the verb fazem in the plural when the English translation says "We don't need"?
In English, "we" is the subject who needs something. But the Portuguese expression fazer falta (to be needed / to be missed) works backwards, like a dative-experiencer verb. The things being needed (estes recipientes) act as the grammatical subject, so the verb fazer must be conjugated to match them in the third-person plural (fazem). The people who need them are expressed as the indirect object (nos - to us).
What is the literal translation of fazer falta to help me remember this backwards structure?
Literally, it means "to make a lack" or "to cause a lack". So, the sentence translates literally to "These containers do not cause a lack to us." This mental model makes it much easier to remember why the containers are the subject doing the action, and we (nos) are simply receiving the feeling of lack.
Why does the pronoun nos come before the verb instead of after it?
Could I just say Estes recipientes não nos faltam instead to mean the same thing?
Grammatically yes, but the meaning is slightly different. Fazer falta focuses on practical or emotional necessity, meaning something is genuinely needed, missed, or useful. Faltar is often more literal, meaning something is simply absent, missing from a complete set, or out of stock. Using fazer falta here emphasizes that the containers serve no practical purpose for you right now.
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