Learn Portuguese (Portugal): A festa foi ótima!

In Portuguese, when evaluating or describing an event that took place, we use the verb ser (to be). Foi is the past tense of ser. Even though a party has a specific start and end time, you use ser to describe the event as a whole. You would only use estar (like the past tense estava) to talk about a temporary condition during the event, such as the music being too loud at one point.

Wait, doesn't foi also mean 'went'?

Yes! The verb ser (to be) and the verb ir (to go) share the exact same forms in the simple past tense. Foi can mean 'he/she/it was' or 'he/she/it went'. You have to rely on context to tell them apart. Here, describing a party as 'great' means it must be 'was'.

Why does ótima end with an 'a' here?

Adjectives in Portuguese must match the gender of the noun they describe. Festa (party) is a feminine noun, so the adjective takes the feminine form ótima. If you were describing a masculine noun, like o jantar (the dinner), you would use the masculine form: O jantar foi ótimo!

Could I just say A festa foi muito boa?