Advérbios de modoAdverbs of manner , sometimes called adverbs of mode, tell us how an action happened or the way in which it was carried out. Easy, right?
Adverbs of manner can sometimes be mistaken for adjectives, but one thing that distinguishing an adverb of manner (or any adverb) is that they are always invariable. In other respects, Portuguese adverbs of manner are used quite similarly to their English counterparts, so you’ll have little trouble learning them.
In this lesson we’ll start with some of the most frequent adverbs of manner in Portuguese, which are:
- bemwell
- melhorbetter
- malbadly, poorly
- piorworse
- atravésthrough
Bem
Bem is the equivalent of well in English. Example:
A lareira funciona bem?Does the fireplace work well?
Muito bem, essa camisola está bem lavada.Well done, that jumper is well-washed.
Melhor
Melhor is the equivalent of better in English. Example:
Ela sente-se melhorShe feels better
Ela canta melhor agora do que há dois anos.She sings better now than she did two years ago.
Mal
Mal is the equivalent of badly or poorly in English. Example:
O teste correu-me mal.I did poorly on the test.
Pior
Pior is the equivalent of worse in English. Example:
A chuva hoje está pior!The rain is worse today!
Através
Através is the equivalent of through in English. You will typically see it followed by the preposition de.
Vi-a através da janela.I saw her through the window.
These two phrases translate the same in DeepL. Is either form more common than the other?
O teste correu-me mal
Fiz mal no teste
“O teste correu-me mal” is perfectly idiomatic, but “Fiz mal no teste” is a literal translation of “I did bad in the exam” and sounds awkward, because in Portuguese, we don’t do well or badly (referring to ourselves), we do something well or badly. So, we might say “Fiz mal este exercício no teste” (I did this exercise wrong in the exam), but we wouldn’t say “Fiz mal no teste”.
Ah, I like the relaxed Portuguese perspective of life. No need to take things personally. “I wasn’t bad at test, the test was bad at me.”
Are these all equivalent?
Ele não sente-se bem
Ele não se sente bem
Ele não sente bem
They’re all different.
– “Ele não sente-se bem” – Not a grammatically correct sentence.
– “Ele não se sente bem” – Means “He doesn’t feel well” and is the right way to write the sentence, because object and reflexive pronouns (like ‘se’) should come before the verb in negative sentences (see Object Pronouns in Portuguese).
– “Ele não sente bem” – Grammatically correct, but sounds awkward/incomplete. I’d read it as “He doesn’t feel [something] well”. The pronoun ‘se’ must be included if you want to refer to the subject’s well-being. Otherwise, the verb will apply to something else. For example, “Ele não sente o cheiro das velas” (He doesn’t feel the scent of the candles).
Vi-a, I saw her.Could you explain this construction?
“Vi” is 1st person singular, past tense: Eu vi = I saw.
“a” is the clitic direct object pronoun referring to “ela”/”her”. When placed after the verb, you add an hyphen.
It’s incorrect – and rude – to say “Eu vi ela”. This form is only accepted in Portuguese Brazilian! So, in European Portuguese you transform “Vi ela” into “Vi-a” (saw + her = vi + -a).
Here’s the LN where you can understand this more clearly:
https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/introduction-to-clitic-object-pronouns/