Breakdown of Não faz mal, tu podes entrar.
Questions & Answers about Não faz mal, tu podes entrar.
Why does Não faz mal translate to 'Never mind'?
Literally, it translates to 'it doesn't do harm' (faz comes from the verb fazer, meaning 'to do' or 'to make', and mal means 'bad' or 'harm'). Portuguese speakers use this exact phrase all the time to mean 'no problem', 'it's fine', or 'never mind'. Why is entrar left in its dictionary form instead of being conjugated?
Because it follows the verb poder (to be able to / can). Just like in English, when you use a helper verb like 'can', the next verb stays in its basic form (the infinitive). Since podes is already conjugated to match tu (you), entrar (to enter) doesn't need to change. How would this sentence change if I were speaking to someone formally?
Instead of the informal tu podes, you would use the formal 'you' (você). The verb changes to match, so you would say você pode entrar, or simply pode entrar. Can I leave out the word tu?
Yes! You will very often hear this as just Não faz mal, podes entrar. Because the verb form podes is only ever used with tu, the listener already knows who you are talking to, making the pronoun completely optional. Learn Não faz mal, tu podes entrar and more in Portuguese
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