Verbos impessoais (chover, fazer frio, haver)
Verbos impessoais (chover, fazer frio, haver) means “impersonal verbs with no subject, always 3rd person singular (weather, existence, elapsed time)”. Some verbs have no subject, so they stay in the 3rd person singular. Formation: chove / choveu / está chovendo · faz frio / faz calor / faz sol · há / faz + tempo (sempre 3ª pessoa do singular)
impersonal verbs with no subject, always 3rd person singular (weather, existence, elapsed time)
A2Formation
chove / choveu / está chovendo · faz frio / faz calor / faz sol · há / faz + tempo (sempre 3ª pessoa do singular)
Explanation
Some verbs have no subject, so they stay in the 3rd person singular. This covers weather verbs (chover to rain, nevar to snow, ventar to be windy, trovejar to thunder, amanhecer/anoitecer/escurecer to dawn/get dark): we say chove, choveu, vai chover, but never 'eu chovo'. With fazer we express heat, cold and weather impersonally: faz frio, faz calor, faz sol, faz tempo bom — always singular, never 'fazem'. The same holds for faz 30 graus (it's 30 degrees) and for elapsed time: faz dois anos, há muito tempo (see ptg004 and ptg042). In Brazil people very often talk about the weather with estar + gerund: 'tá chovendo', 'tá fazendo frio'. Spanish behaves identically (llueve, hace frío, hace dos años), so transfer is strong; the only Brazilian twist is the frequent progressive 'está chovendo'.
Examples
Note
Never pluralize or give these verbs a subject: it's faz 30 graus (not 'fazem 30 graus') and há dez anos (not 'hão dez anos'). In Brazilian speech, 'tem' often replaces 'há' (Tem muita gente na praia = there are lots of people), but 'faz' and weather verbs stay singular.
FAQ
Verbos impessoais (chover, fazer frio, haver) — what does it mean and how is it used?
impersonal verbs with no subject, always 3rd person singular (weather, existence, elapsed time). Some verbs have no subject, so they stay in the 3rd person singular. This covers weather verbs (chover to rain, nevar to snow, ventar to be windy, trovejar to thunder, amanhecer/anoitecer/escurecer to dawn/get dark): we say chove, choveu, vai chover, but never 'eu chovo'. With fazer we express heat, cold and weather impersonally: faz frio, faz calor, faz sol, faz tempo bom — always singular, never 'fazem'. The same holds for faz 30 graus (it's 30 degrees) and for elapsed time: faz dois anos, há muito tempo (see ptg004 and ptg042). In Brazil people very often talk about the weather with estar + gerund: 'tá chovendo', 'tá fazendo frio'. Spanish behaves identically (llueve, hace frío, hace dos años), so transfer is strong; the only Brazilian twist is the frequent progressive 'está chovendo'.
Verbos impessoais (chover, fazer frio, haver) — how do you form it?
chove / choveu / está chovendo · faz frio / faz calor / faz sol · há / faz + tempo (sempre 3ª pessoa do singular)
Verbos impessoais (chover, fazer frio, haver) — any usage notes?
Never pluralize or give these verbs a subject: it's faz 30 graus (not 'fazem 30 graus') and há dez anos (not 'hão dez anos'). In Brazilian speech, 'tem' often replaces 'há' (Tem muita gente na praia = there are lots of people), but 'faz' and weather verbs stay singular.