Breakdown of Eu farto-me de coçar a comichão.
eu
I
fartar-se de
to get sick of / to do excessively
coçar
to scratch (an itch)
a comichão
the itch
Questions & Answers about Eu farto-me de coçar a comichão.
The current lesson is about 'fartar-se de' meaning to do something excessively, but the translation says 'I get sick of'. Which meaning is being used here?
Fartar-se de is wonderfully versatile and often has two overlapping meanings. It can mean to be emotionally or physically fed up with something (matching the translation 'I get sick of'). However, as an aspectual periphrasis, it means doing an action excessively or to your heart's content (which would translate to 'I scratch the itch non-stop' or 'I scratch the itch a ton'). In this sentence, both interpretations work perfectly, and native speakers often use it to express doing something so much that they eventually tire of it.
Why is the pronoun '-me' attached to the end of 'farto' rather than placed before it?
In European Portuguese, the default position for object pronouns in affirmative main clauses is after the verb, attached with a hyphen. Because Eu is a standard subject pronoun, it does not act as a 'magnet' to pull the pronoun to the front, unlike negative words (such as não) or specific conjunctions. Therefore, the correct form is farto-me.
The word 'comichão' ends in '-ão'. Why does it use the feminine article 'a'?
While many everyday words ending in -ão are masculine (like o pão or o cão), several nouns with this ending are actually feminine. This is especially common for abstract nouns, feelings, and sensations. Other common feminine examples you will encounter at this level include a razão (reason), a paixão (passion), and a multidão (crowd).
If the sentence is 'I scratch the itch', why aren't we using the reflexive verb 'coçar-se'?
You only use the reflexive coçar-se when the action reflects back onto the subject directly (meaning 'I scratch myself'). In this sentence, the action of scratching is directed at a specific, separate direct object (a comichão), so we use the standard, non-reflexive verb coçar.
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