Assim in Portuguese

By James Hall / / (4) Advanced Portuguese, (3) Intermediate Portuguese
assim in portuguese

Assim is the 90th most used word in the Portuguese language!
Assim has two main meanings:

Assim in Portuguese = like this, like that

Eu sou assim. ➜ I'm like this/that.

The verb SER is used because this is a permamnent condition.

Nós somos assim. ➜ We're like this/that

I just wanted to show the previouse example with "we" rather than "I" 😉

Eu gosto assim. ➜ I like it like this/that

GOSTAR is usually followed by a de, but in this case we're not talking about anything specific - just this/that.

Eu gosto de ser assim. ➜ I like being like this/that

Did you notice how being is expressed by the, de ser?

Eu sempre fui assim. ➜ I've always been like this/that

A good example of SER in the past tense.

Estudando assim você vai ficar fluente. ➜ Studying like this/that you will become fluent.

Assim = as soon as

In this context, assim triggers the subjunctive mood YAY! the FUTURE SUBJUNCTIVE, YAYY!

Assim que eu sair do serviço, te ligo. ➜ As soon as I get off work I'll call you.

Assim examples in-context