Let’s go over the times of day in Portuguese! These are the períodos do diaperiods of the day from sunrise to sunset:
- a madrugadathe early morning hours, dawn – from meia-noitemidnight until 6am/dawn (around o nascer do solsunrise )
- a manhãthe morning – from about 6am until meio-dianoon
- a tardethe afternoon – from noon until about 6pm (or around o pôr do solsunset when it gets dark)
- a noitethe night – from about 6pm to midnight
Don’t pay too much attention to the exact time, though. The terms are used fairly loosely in conversation.
Just like in English, it’s also common for madrugada to be replaced by manhã for those early hours before the sun comes up.
São duas da manhã! Deixa-me dormir!It’s two in the morning! Let me sleep!
You may bump into people who prefer to say Boa tarde only after they’ve had lunch! And many won’t consider it nighttime until it’s dark, even though that often happens later than 6p.m.
I am getting confused about the use of the definite article when referring to a time of the day. Examples in lesson one includes
Terça-feira à tarde (including the article, a tarde)
Nós vamos ao cinema à noite (again with the article, a noite)
Eu bebo café de manhã (no article in front of manhã)
Ainda é de madrugada (no article in front of madrugada)
Why is not “café da manhâ” and “da madrugada”? Is the article optional, or is there a subtle difference in meaning which escapes me?
In the first few examples, the idiomatic options are to use an article with the preposition ‘a’ and omit it with the preposition ‘de’. And both are interchangeable, with no difference in meaning:
– Terça-feira à tarde (contracted preposition + article) = Terça-feira de tarde (only preposition)
– Nós vamos ao cinema à noite (contracted preposition + article) = Nós vamos ao cinema de noite (only preposition)
Just note that we don’t say ‘à manhã’, so whenever we want to say ‘in the morning’, we can only use ‘de manhã’.
In the last two examples, there is a difference between using or not using the article.
– Eu bebo café de manhã = I drink coffee in the morning. BUT Eu bebo café da manhã = I drink morning coffee
– Ainda é (de) madrugada = It’s still late night. BUT Ainda é da madrugada = It’s still from/of the late night
Basically, whenever the period of the day is used as an adjective in English (morning coffee, night train, afternoon break), we’ll probably use ‘da’ in Portuguese. Otherwise, just ‘de’ or ‘à’. Here’s a forum topic that also gets into this: De Manhã? Na manhã? Pela manhã? | Practice Portuguese Forum
Thank you very much Joseph for your explanation and for the link. That was very useful.
May I suggest adding notes to explain in the exercise lesson? I had the same confusion because some answers of “de” vs “à” are specified as wrong vs. correct answers while it seems it can be both depending, but except we don’t say à manhã.
Olá! In the exercises, there’s no ambiguity because they all focus on telling time specifically, not just referring to general periods of the day. When telling time, only the (contracted) preposition ‘de’ is acceptable:
– São duas da tarde (correct)
– São duas à tarde (incorrect)
Olá! Thank you for clarifying about telling time. However, when referring to a time of day in action, your comment below is very helpful. I feel it’s worth including under one of the exercise. 🙂 Just a suggestion.
Basically, whenever the period of the day is used as an adjective in English (morning coffee, night train, afternoon break), we’ll probably use ‘da’ in Portuguese. Otherwise, just ‘de’ or ‘à’.
– Terça-feira à tarde (contracted preposition + article) = Terça-feira de tarde (only preposition)
– Nós vamos ao cinema à noite (contracted preposition + article) = Nós vamos ao cinema de noite (only preposition)
We’ve added brief notes to the applicable phrases, thanks 🙂 (also, my previous comment was in reference to the wrong unit, sorry about that!)
What’s the difference between nascer do sol and amanhecer?
Olá! Same difference as the one between sunrise and dawn. Sunrise/nascer do sol = the exact moment when the sun starts rising over the horizon. Amanhecer/dawn = the general period in the early morning when the sky starts getting lighter (even before the sun is visible).
Muito Obrigada!
Hi what is the difference between the proposition ‘a’ and ‘de’ since they both are used for parts of the day.
How do we know when to use which one?
Olá. Good question! I’ve answered this to some extent in one of my previous comments here, also referencing the different examples we have on this Learning Note. In short, there’s no practical difference between ‘à’ (preposition a + definite article a) and ‘de’ in sentences such as these:
– Terça-feira à tarde (contracted preposition + article) = Terça-feira de tarde (only preposition)
– Nós vamos ao cinema à noite (contracted preposition + article) = Nós vamos ao cinema de noite (only preposition)
Just note that we don’t say ‘à manhã’, so whenever we want to say ‘in the morning’, we can only use ‘de manhã’.
Additionally, ‘de’ can also contract with the definite article ‘a’ (de + a = da) in sentences where the period of the day would be used as an adjective in English (e.g. morning coffee, night train, afternoon break) or similar. For example:
– Eu bebo café de manhã = I drink coffee in the morning. BUT Eu bebo o café da manhã = I drink the morning coffee
– Ainda é (de) madrugada = It’s still late night. BUT Ainda é da madrugada = It’s still from/of the late night
Here’s a forum topic that also gets into this: De Manhã? Na manhã? Pela manhã? | Practice Portuguese Forum