Breakdown of Sê gentil com o teu irmão.
ser
to be
o irmão
the brother
com
with
teu
your (informal, m/f/pl: teu, tua, teus, tuas)
o
him/it (m)
gentil
kind
Questions & Answers about Sê gentil com o teu irmão.
What verb is Sê and why does it look like this?
Sê is the informal command (imperative) form of ser (to be), used when speaking to someone you address as tu. The verb ser is highly irregular in the imperative. If you were telling someone you address formally as você to be kind, you would use seja.
The English translation says "kind to", so why does the Portuguese sentence use com (with)?
In Portuguese, you are kind with someone (gentil com). Prepositions often don't match up perfectly between languages, so it's very helpful to memorize the combination ser gentil com (to be kind to).
Why is there an o before teu irmão?
In European Portuguese, we almost always put a definite article (o, a, os, as) before a possessive word like teu (your). Since irmão is a masculine singular noun, we use o teu (literally "the your").
Would gentil change if I was telling someone to be kind to their sister instead?
No, gentil would stay exactly the same. Adjectives that end in a consonant like -l (such as gentil or fácil) usually have the same form for both masculine and feminine nouns. The sentence would just change to Sê gentil com a tua irmã.
Learn Sê gentil com o teu irmão and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free