Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Quando faz calor, vamos à praia.

Quando faz calor, vamos à praia.

When it is hot, we go to the beach.

Breakdown of Quando faz calor, vamos à praia.

at the (fem. sg.) / to the (fem. sg.)

Questions & Answers about Quando faz calor, vamos à praia.

Why does it say faz calor instead of using the verb "to be" for "it is hot"?

In Portuguese, weather expressions often use the verb fazer (to do or to make). So faz calor literally translates as "it makes heat". While you might hear está calor to describe the weather right at this exact moment, faz calor is used for a general condition like "when it is hot".

Where is the word for "we" before vamos?

The pronoun nós (we) is hidden because the verb form vamos (we go) already tells you who is doing the action. In Portuguese, it is much more natural to drop subject pronouns like "I", "you", or "we" when the verb makes it obvious.

Why isn't there a word for "it" before faz calor?

English needs a dummy subject like "it" for weather expressions. Portuguese does not use this. When a verb is about the weather, it just stands alone without any subject word in front of it.

What does the backward accent mean on the à in à praia?

That accent shows that two identical letters have combined into one. The verb vamos (we go) needs the preposition a (to), and the feminine word praia (beach) needs the word for "the", which is also a. Instead of writing vamos a a praia, they combine into à.