Seasons in Portuguese

What’s a good time of year to visit? Is it nicer to travel in summer or winter? What are your friends doing for the spring vacation? Let’s find out!

Resources for further reading:

• Want to know how long it takes to learn Portuguese?
• The top ten hacks to effectively learn Portuguese

Pronouncing the seasons in Portuguese

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Brazil is a country with continental dimensions. It might come as a surprise to you, but it is not hot everywhere in Brazil, and not all year long. Although the climate is relatively constant for most of the country (after all, it IS a tropical country!), the regions tend have different weather throughout the year.

The north of Brazil, best known for the Amazon Rain Forest, has a very constant climate all year long. What changes in this region is the rain fall. Locals say “it rains every day in the Summer (September to March) and it rains all day in the Winter (June to August).” But the temperature is always in the high 20 and low 30s, even when it rains.

The central part of Brazil, which is where I am from, has what I like to call “a mild climate.” It gets really hot in the summer, sometimes temperatures go up to nearly 40 degrees celsius (140 degrees fahrenheit). But we also have a cooler period in the year from May to August, when temperatures drop below 10 degrees at night, and in some places – the outskirts, away from the concrete and asphalt of the big cities – you can still get frosty mornings. But the winter is also a very dry season in this region, and unfortunately there are a lot of bush fires. When the first rains start, the vegetation blooms and becomes green all over again.

And what makes people really surprised is to find out that in the Southern region of Brazil, the southern-most states that border Argentina and Uruguay, there are places where it snows in winter! Yes! Real snow! And temperatures can stay below freezing for many days. People from that region drink mate or “chimarrão,” an infused drink prepared with mate leaves, served in a calabash gourd, through a metal straw “bomba” to keep themselves warm.

So, when visiting Brazil, make sure you know what the weather is like in the region you’re visiting during the time of the year you’ll be there! You don’t want to be surprised by a very cold draft and icy mornings in your flip-flops and bikinis!

That’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed the lesson.

If you want more lessons on Portuguese time then I recommend these ones!

• Pronouncing the days of the week in Portuguese.
• All the months in Portuguese.
• Portuguese Time.
• Telling the time in Portuguese.

Até a próxima!

Tereza Pereira: Rocket Portuguese