A2 (Elementary)Lesson 7: Comparisons & Connectors
How to say how often something happens in Brazilian Portuguese: from sempre to nunca, possible positions in the sentence, negative concord with nunca, and the colloquial direto, toda hora and vira e mexe.
sempre = always · nunca = never
às vezes = sometimes · de vez em quando = every now and then
quase softens both ends: quase sempre, quase nunca
Before the verb is a common pattern: Ela nunca cozinha. (She never cooks.)
After ser and estar is another pattern: Ele é sempre educado. (He is always polite.) Preverbal position is also possible.
For this negative meaning, preverbal nunca needs no added não. After the verb it normally combines with an earlier negative, often não.
Countable? Count it: três vezes por semana (three times a week)
Spoken and very Brazilian: direto, toda hora, vira e mexe
frequency word before or after the verb, depending on the construction and context · ser/estar + frequency word is one pattern · frequency word at the front (emphasis) or at the end (a possible afterthought)
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Tenses tell people when something happened. Frequency words tell them how often. Eu corro (I run) leaves the frequency open; Eu corro de vez em quando (I run every now and then) specifies it. These expressions help with everyday conversations about habits, work and routines. Learn the ladder plus three colloquial extras and you can describe a habit or comment on how often something happens.
| Expression | Roughly how often | Example |
|---|---|---|
| sempre | every time, no exceptions | Ele sempre paga a conta. (He always pays the bill.) |
| quase sempre | nearly every time | Quase sempre janto em casa. (I nearly always have dinner at home.) |
| às vezes | some days yes, some days no | Às vezes eu ando de bicicleta. (Sometimes I ride a bike.) |
| de vez em quando | now and then, no pattern | Ela me escreve de vez em quando. (She writes to me now and then.) |
| quase nunca | almost no times | Quase nunca uso relógio. (I almost never wear a watch.) |
| nunca | zero times, ever | Nunca provei açaí. (I have never tried açaí.) |
Quase ("almost") is the dial. Park it in front of sempre or nunca and the two useful middle steps come free.
"Sempre tomo banho antes de dormir." (I always shower before bed.)
"Quase nunca ponho o despertador no fim de semana." (I almost never set an alarm at the weekend.)
"Às vezes eu durmo no sofá vendo TV." (Sometimes I fall asleep on the sofa watching TV.)
"De vez em quando eu acordo com fome de madrugada." (Now and then I wake up hungry in the small hours.)
"Ele chega sempre com dez minutos de atraso." (He always arrives ten minutes late.)
"Nunca levo o computador para casa." (I never take the computer home.)
"A gente se encontra duas vezes por semana." (We meet twice a week.)
"Ela está sempre de fone de ouvido." (She always has her headphones on.)
Meaning "sometimes", it is always às vezes, accent and all. But when vezes is a plain noun you are counting, the ordinary article is the correct one:
Ele contou as vezes em que mudou de cidade. (He counted the times he moved city.)
Ela lembra as vezes em que a gente riu até chorar. (She remembers the times we laughed until we cried.)
Rare, but real — and worth knowing before autocorrect picks a fight with you. Source: Correio Braziliense.
Como sempre is "as always" and para sempre is "forever"; keep this order when using these expressions. Sempre como means "I always eat" when como is the first-person form of comer. Its meaning depends on the sentence.
Meu vizinho reclama direto. (My neighbour complains constantly.) need not claim that he never stops. These expressions can occur in speech and informal writing. For a formal work email, sempre or com frequência (frequently) may be better choices.
A literary example of nunca mais belongs to a bird. When Machado de Assis translated Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven in Rio de Janeiro in 1883 — the first version of the poem in Portuguese — he turned the raven's croaked Nevermore into Nunca mais. Fernando Pessoa, translating the same poem in Lisbon in 1924, landed on exactly the same two words. Sources: Cultura Genial · Terra Treva.
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