Word
Janeiro é um mês muito frio.
Meaning
January is a very cold month.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Janeiro é um mês muito frio.
ser
to be
muito
much / very
um
a / an / some (all forms)
frio
cold
Questions & Answers about Janeiro é um mês muito frio.
Are months of the year capitalized in Portuguese?
Normally, no. In Portuguese, months like janeiro are written with a lowercase letter. It is only capitalized in this sentence because it is the very first word.
Why do we use é instead of está for the weather here?
We usually use the verb estar to talk about how the weather feels right now (like temporary conditions). However, this sentence is stating a general, permanent fact about the month of January as a whole. When describing an essential or permanent characteristic, we use the verb ser, which gives us é.
Why does frio come at the end of the sentence?
In Portuguese, adjectives (describing words like frio) usually come after the noun they describe (mês). So, instead of saying "a very cold month" like in English, the word order is literally "a month very cold" (um mês muito frio).