Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Uma refeição quente faz bem.

Uma refeição quente faz bem.

A hot meal does you good.

Breakdown of Uma refeição quente faz bem.

a / an / some (all forms)

Questions & Answers about Uma refeição quente faz bem.

Why does the sentence use bem instead of bom?

In Portuguese, the set phrase for something being healthy or beneficial is fazer bem (literally 'to do well'). English uses the adjective 'good' ('does you good'), but Portuguese requires the adverb bem.

Where is the word for 'you' in the Portuguese sentence?

There is not one! The Portuguese sentence is a general statement meaning 'a hot meal does good'. The English translation adds 'you' to make it sound natural. If you wanted to specify doing good to someone in particular, you would add a pronoun, like faz-te bem ('does you good', informal).

Why doesn't the adjective quente change to match the feminine noun refeição?

Adjectives that end in -e in Portuguese, such as quente (hot) or grande (big), are gender-neutral. They keep the exact same form for both masculine and feminine nouns. You only change them to add an -s if the noun is plural.

How can I tell that refeição is a feminine word?

A highly reliable rule in Portuguese is that almost all nouns ending in -ção are feminine. Because of this, it is paired with the feminine indefinite article uma.