Unit 9 of 16A15 lessons · 40 words

Weather and clothes in European Portuguese

O tempo e a roupa

Talk about the weather, the seasons and the months, and say what you wear. This is an A1 unit of the Bica course, in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal: below are all its words, example sentences you can listen to, and the grammar notes.

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Words and phrases

1. The weather

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Portuguese	English
o tempo	weatherO tempo means both weather and time.
está solalso faz sol	it's sunny
está frioalso faz frio	it's cold
está a chover	it's rainingEstar a + infinitive, from chover (to rain).
está ventoalso faz vento	it's windy
o guarda-chuva	umbrellaLiterally "rain-guard".
está caloralso faz calor	it's hot
os óculos de sol	sunglasses

2. Seasons & months

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Portuguese	English
a primavera	spring
o verão	summer
o outono	autumn
o inverno	winter
a chuva	rain
o mês	monthPlural: os meses.
janeiro	JanuaryMonths are written in lower case.
agosto	August

3. Clothes

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Portuguese	English
a roupa	clothesSingular in Portuguese: muita roupa = a lot of clothes.
o casaco	coat
a camisola	jumper
as calças	trousersAlways plural: as calças.
a saia	skirt
o vestido	dress
a camisa	shirt
a t-shirt	T-shirt

4. Getting dressed

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Portuguese	English
vestir	to put onVisto, vestes, veste: I put on, you put on, he/she puts on.
levar	to takeAlso "to wear" for an occasion: Vou levar o vestido azul.
as sapatilhas	trainers
as meias	socks
o fato de banho	swimsuit
castanhoalso castanha	brown
os sapatos	shoes
o chapéu	hat

5. Colours

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Portuguese	English
vermelhoalso vermelha	red
amareloalso amarela	yellow
brancoalso branca	white
pretoalso preta	black
cor-de-rosa	pinkNever changes: uma saia cor-de-rosa.
cinzentoalso cinzenta	grey
azul	bluePlural: azuis.
verde	green

Example sentences

Como está o tempo?What's the weather like?
Hoje está sol.It's sunny today.
Está muito calor!It's very hot!Literally "it is a lot of heat": está calor.
Eu gosto do verão.I like summer.De + o = do: gosto do verão.
Em janeiro faz muito frio.In January it's very cold.Use em with months: em janeiro. For the usual climate, faz frio is very natural.
No inverno chove muito.It rains a lot in winter.Use no with seasons: no inverno.
Estas calças são caras.These trousers are expensive.Calças is plural, so it is estas and caras.
Onde está a minha camisola?Where's my jumper?
Eu queria uma t-shirt, se faz favor.I'd like a T-shirt, please.
Eu vou vestir o casaco.I'm going to put on my coat.For your own clothes, Portuguese often says just o casaco.
Está frio, veste a camisola!It's cold, put on your jumper!Veste! is how you tell a friend to put something on.
Eu vou levar o fato de banho.I'm going to take my swimsuit.
O céu está azul.The sky is blue.O céu is the sky.
Eu gosto do vestido vermelho.I like the red dress.
A camisa branca é do meu pai.The white shirt is my father's.

Every lesson page has all of its sentences: The weather · Seasons & months · Clothes · Getting dressed · Colours

Unit notes

Está sol! Talking about the weather

Portuguese describes the weather with estar: Está sol. ("It's sunny.") Está calor. ("It's hot.") Está frio. Está vento. Literally, "it is sun", "it is heat". You will also hear faz, especially for the usual climate: Faz frio. Em janeiro faz muito frio.

For weather that is happening right now, use estar a + infinitive: Está a chover. ("It's raining.")

To ask about the weather, say Como está o tempo? O tempo means both "the weather" and "time".

Hoje está muito calor.It's very hot today.
Está a chover, leva o guarda-chuva!It's raining, take your umbrella!

Months and seasons

Months and seasons are written in lower case: janeiro, fevereiro, março, abril, maio, junho, julho, agosto, setembro, outubro, novembro, dezembro.

The seasons are a primavera, o verão, o outono and o inverno. Use em with months (em agosto) and no with seasons (no verão).

In Portugal, summer runs roughly from June to September, and August is the big holiday month, when half of Lisbon goes to the Algarve.

Em agosto faz muito calor.In August it's very hot.
No inverno chove muito.It rains a lot in winter.

Colours agree with the noun

Colours go after the noun and agree with it, like other adjectives. Colours ending in -o have four forms: um casaco preto, uma saia preta, os sapatos pretos, as calças pretas.

Colours ending in -e or -l only change in the plural: verde, verdes; azul, azuis.

Cor-de-rosa (pink) and laranja (orange) never change: uma saia cor-de-rosa, os casacos laranja. Grey is cinzento and brown is castanho.

As calças cinzentas são novas.The grey trousers are new.
Eu tenho uma camisola castanha.I have a brown jumper.
A Beatriz tem um casaco cor-de-rosa.Beatriz has a pink coat.

Clothes words in Portugal

A camisola is a jumper or sweater, a t-shirt is a T-shirt, as sapatilhas are trainers and o fato de banho is a swimsuit. As calças (trousers) and os óculos (glasses) are always plural.

To put clothes on, use vestir: Eu vou vestir o casaco. For what you take or wear for an occasion, use levar: Eu vou levar o vestido azul.

With your own clothes, Portuguese usually needs only the article: Veste o casaco! ("Put your coat on!")

O que é que vais vestir?What are you going to wear?
Leva o chapéu, está muito sol!Take your hat, it's very sunny!