Learn Portuguese (Portugal): A criança está meio enjoada por causa da sopa. - The child is kind of nauseous because of the soup.

In this sentence, meio acts as an adverb meaning "kind of" or "a bit", describing how sick the child feels. Adverbs are invariable, meaning they never change to match gender or number. If meio meant "half" of a physical object (like meia sopa for "half a soup"), it would act as an adjective and change to match the feminine noun.

Can the word enjoada mean anything besides "nauseous" in other contexts?

Yes! While it means "nauseous" or "queasy" here, enjoado or enjoada is also commonly used in Portugal to describe someone who is very picky, fussy, or annoying. For instance, a fussy eater is often called enjoada with food.

Why do we use por causa da here instead of just porque?

We use por causa de (which combines with a to make da) because it translates to "because of" and is followed directly by a noun (sopa). Porque means "because" and is used as a conjunction followed by a subject and a verb, as in "porque ela comeu a sopa" (because she ate the soup).

If the child we are talking about is a boy, would we change it to "o criança está meio enjoado"?