Portuguese Adverbs of Degree: A Little, A Lot, etc.

By James Hall / / (3) Intermediate Portuguese
portuguese-adverbs

Some Portuguese adverbs are made for adding INTENSITY (emphasis). They have their own name too: adverbs of intensity. You don’t need to actually know what an “adverb of intensity” is – you already use them every day. You just need to know the vocabulary for expressing things like, ‘hardly’, ‘almost’, ‘completely’ as in, ‘I kind of hope he wins’ or, ‘It hardly matters’.

Portuguese Adverbs are really useful. You can say things like:

Eu trabalho bastante. ➜ I work plenty
Eu tenho tanto medo do escuro. ➜ I'm so afraid of the dark.
Eu durmo muito pouco. ➜ I hardly sleep.
Eu mal consigo esperar. ➜ I can hardly wait.
Eu quase não saio à noite. ➜ I hardly go out at night,

These adverbs convey intensity.

menos
demais
tanto
quase
bem
mal
pouco