Word
A comida foi horrível, mas o ambiente foi maravilhoso.
Meaning
The food was horrible, but the environment was wonderful.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of A comida foi horrível, mas o ambiente foi maravilhoso.
ser
to be
mas
but
a comida
the food
o ambiente
the atmosphere / the environment
Questions & Answers about A comida foi horrível, mas o ambiente foi maravilhoso.
Since ser and ir share the same past tense forms, how do we know which verb foi comes from here?
Because ser (to be) and ir (to go) share the exact same conjugations in the simple past, foi can mean 'it was' or 'it went'. You just have to use context! Saying 'The food went horrible' doesn't make sense, so we know this is the verb ser meaning 'The food was horrible'.
Why do we use foi (from ser) instead of a form of estar? Isn't the food being bad a temporary state?
This is a common trip-up! When you evaluate or summarize an experience that is completely finished in the past (like a meal you ate or a party you attended), Portuguese uses ser. You are judging the completed event as a whole. If you used esteve (from estar), it would imply the food was only bad for a moment during the meal, but maybe got better later!
Why does maravilhoso end in -o but horrível doesn't?
Adjectives usually change their endings to match the noun's gender. Maravilhoso is masculine to match o ambiente. However, adjectives ending in -l (like horrível) or -e (like inteligente) are neutral. They use the exact same form for both masculine and feminine nouns, which is why it stays horrível for the feminine noun a comida.