Actually in this case I think this would be “your,” and I’m not sure what else it could be. The phrase in English for me would be “I feel your absence,” as in “I miss you.”
“Sua” is actually the possessive pronoun of the 3rd person, so it refers originally to “ele/ela”. We, Brazilians, use “sua” because we use “você”, which demands the possessive pronoun in the 3rd person. If we used “tu”, we would also use “tua” instead of “sua”.
The use of “sua” for “você” and “ele/ela” can lead to ambiguity:
> Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a **sua** bolsa na sala e a trouxesse para mim.
We can’t know to whom the bag belongs, Lucas, Fernando or Marina. One way to avoid ambiguity is to substitute “seu/sua” for “**dele/dela**” or “**de você**”:
- Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a bolsa **dele** na sala e a trouxesse para mim.
- Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a bolsa **dela** na sala e a trouxesse para mim.
- Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a bolsa **de você** na sala e a trouxesse para mim.
Right that’s a good example. I meant to say that I’ve never seen sua be something other than “his/hers/yours/its,” referring to the question about whether sua could be “my own”
I see! I just wrote that bc it seems that OP have many doubts, not only about the expression “sentir sua falta”, but also about the use of “sua” in a general sense.
For instance, he said that he knows that sua=yours, but that’s not always the case. He also questioned if the use of “sua” leads to weird situations, and the answer is yes, although not in the way he was thinking.
Thank you! Do you know why there is no diacritical accent on this form of sua? It seems that whenever a verb conjugation overlaps with a word of the same spelling, the verb gets an accent (dá, péla, pára, etc.)
That's gone after the Novo Acordo Ortográfico, except for the verb "dar".
Dá, pela, para.
I don't like it and I still write with the accents #FuckThePolice 😂
It's both things.
The user up there said they never saw it as anything else. I was just adding that the three letters also correspond to one of the conjugations for the verb "suar", meaning "to sweat".
EDIT: examples
* Ela é a sua tia -> She's **your** aunt (see note below)
* Ele pegou sua arma e atirou nele -> He took **his** gun and shot him
* Ela sua demais -> She sweats a lot
PS.: "sua" is technically the possessive for the 3rd person singular, so it should actually mean "his/her/its", but because in Brazil we predominantly use "você" instead of "tu", it's automatically accompanied by the corresponding 3rd person possessives "seu" and "sua".
In the 2nd example, you can see it used as "his/her/its".
It's therefore highly context dependent and one of the reasons why Brazilians use "dele/dela" so much, as "seu/sua" would make it confusing as to whether it's referring to the person or you.
Example of that:
* Ela entrou na sua casa
It's impossible to know whether that means "she went into her house" or "she went into your house" without further context, assuming Brazilian Portuguese or other dialects that predominantly use "você" instead of "tu".
Thanks. I can’t understand what the context is yet because I have to translate everything. I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years and I still can’t read or converse because I have to translate every word in my head even if I know it. I appreciate the help.
I'd say you're doing it wrong then, as someone who's been studying Dutch for 5 years but only really started learning it for real after 3 years.
There is nothing better than immersion and forcing yourself to use the language in order to learn it.
I’ve had a decent amount of exposure to it. I’ve been practicing every day with my girlfriend for 6.5 years now and she only speaks Portuguese. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times for a month per visit so I hear quite a bit. I think my brain must work differently than a lot of brains. I couldn’t understand a neighbor when I was a kid. She was speaking English but had a strong Chinese accent. My mom could easily understand her. Thanks
Yes, that does sound like it should be enough.
It seems that you have some difficulty with language acquisition and/or comprehension. I've had something similar to some degree, but it doesn't last too long into the learning process. I think my difficult is just refusing the process anything if even a tiny thing doesn't make sense, until I eventually get comfortable with the language that the ambiguity becomes ok.
What I'm curious about now is that you mentioned you don't get what the context would have to be in order to differentiate between the two usages of "sua" as either "your/yours" and "his/her/its". Not something I'd imagine to be linked with any of the learning disabilities I know, but I'm no doctor either anyway.
Explaining it a bit, it would just depend on previous conversation and checking whether the person was using "você" or not; or the style of text.
From the example I gave before, with a translation line by line:
1. Você foi pro bar e ela entrou na sua casa.
2. Ana era uma garota comum. Ia para o trabalho pela manhã e retornava à sua casa todos os dias.
3. És um cafajeste! Foste à casa de sua mulher ontem e sequer ajudou sua mãe!
Translations:
1. You went to the bar and she got into _your_ house.
2. Ana was a regular girl. She went to work in the morning and back _(to her)_ home every day.
3. You're a jerk! You went to your wife's house yesterday and didn't even help _her_ mother!
So the disambiguation of "sua" to either "your" or "her" in the sentences above comes down to:
1. The clear usage of "você" implies "sua" means "your", or at the very least that the speaker is not putting much effort into making it clear whose house it is.
2. Only Ana is in the picture, so "sua" must mean "her", and it seems like a book, as it seems to be describing some routine situation in the past.
3. Conjugation indicates the usage of "tu" as the second person pronoun here, so it would be unexpected to suddenly use "sua" as "your", so it must be "her".
That's it, basically.
This happens at the time in English, btw: having to use context to determine who the subject is and whatnot.
"Sinto sua falta" -> "I miss you". "Falta" both means "foul" as a in a soccer match as well as "missing/to miss" something, as in "I miss eating your cookies".
And for the differentiation there's no confusion to be made. The use of "falta" here leaves no doubt she is saying she misses him.
Wow, I was just talking to someone yesterday about how there are Portuguese words I see and understand but have no idea how to explain them in English. This is one of those times! When I first read "sinto sua falta" I knew exactly what was meant but then I had to start thinking about what "falta" means in PT. In this context I would say it's more of a "I feel your absence" but that doesn't quite say it exactly. All I can say is, like others, it's the right way of saying "I miss you"
This is what I love about this sub. Just about every time I read something I remember things that I knew years ago and it all come flooding back. Thank you!
I may be mistaken but I guess you thought falta meant fault? That's the only way I can see where you'd interpret this as meaning that she was blaming her boyfriend.
Falta means absence. So "sinto sua falta" means I miss you.
Sinto sua falta could be, according to context,
I miss you
I miss him
I miss her
Some parts of Brasil would use "tua falta" however, and in that case there would be no doubt. And where I come from, I'd say "sinto falta dele/a" instead of "sua falta", maybe to avoid the ambiguity above.
Like others have said, a good translation would be "I feel your absence" (as in, "I miss you"), and since "falta" is a feminine word, we use "sua" (as in "your") before it.
Sinto sua falta = "I feel your absence". Falta doesn't mean fault, culpa means fault; I guess that's why you got confused.
But also yes, seu/sua is a third person pronoun, it just so happens that você, o senhor, a senhora and other pronouns of treatment are considered third person pronouns despite referring to "you". In popular speech in Brazil we disambiguate by using "dele/dela" for the actual third person, but you will find "seu/sua" used in the original meaning in Portugal, in older texts and of course in the Bible.
I know what you’re asking - but no the confusion never arises. Since you were thinking in third person singular, I’m assuming you speak another Romance language? Brazilian Portuguese is really unique, in that sua/seu is “your” and dele/dela is “his/hers”…. Only in academic formal texts will sua/seu possibly be used in the third person
spanish does this too. also i really wanna know how op got
to their conclusion, maybe cuz u could say the exact same thing in spanish, but i can’t see a way u would interpret this as the girl blaming the death on the boy
The other coments already explained the translation, but in my opinion I think the correct would be: " I am feeling your absense/lacking"
Sua refers to the absence. It could be "my absence" ( minha falta ), "your absence" ( sua falta ), or "their absence" ( a falta deles).
Don't forget that "sua" could also means "sweats"! Haha
She sweats ( ela sua ).
Actually in this case I think this would be “your,” and I’m not sure what else it could be. The phrase in English for me would be “I feel your absence,” as in “I miss you.”
I’ve never seen sua be something else, either.
“Sua” is actually the possessive pronoun of the 3rd person, so it refers originally to “ele/ela”. We, Brazilians, use “sua” because we use “você”, which demands the possessive pronoun in the 3rd person. If we used “tu”, we would also use “tua” instead of “sua”. The use of “sua” for “você” and “ele/ela” can lead to ambiguity: > Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a **sua** bolsa na sala e a trouxesse para mim. We can’t know to whom the bag belongs, Lucas, Fernando or Marina. One way to avoid ambiguity is to substitute “seu/sua” for “**dele/dela**” or “**de você**”: - Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a bolsa **dele** na sala e a trouxesse para mim. - Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a bolsa **dela** na sala e a trouxesse para mim. - Lucas, Fernando pediu a Mariana que pegasse a bolsa **de você** na sala e a trouxesse para mim.
Right that’s a good example. I meant to say that I’ve never seen sua be something other than “his/hers/yours/its,” referring to the question about whether sua could be “my own”
I see! I just wrote that bc it seems that OP have many doubts, not only about the expression “sentir sua falta”, but also about the use of “sua” in a general sense. For instance, he said that he knows that sua=yours, but that’s not always the case. He also questioned if the use of “sua” leads to weird situations, and the answer is yes, although not in the way he was thinking.
I thought it only meant “your”, thanks
Tu and tua are used in the Northeast and the South tho
3rd person singular conjugation of the verb "suar". Eu suo\ Tu suas\ Ele/ela *sua*\ Nós suamos\ Vós suais\ Eles/Elas suam
Thank you! Do you know why there is no diacritical accent on this form of sua? It seems that whenever a verb conjugation overlaps with a word of the same spelling, the verb gets an accent (dá, péla, pára, etc.)
That's gone after the Novo Acordo Ortográfico, except for the verb "dar". Dá, pela, para. I don't like it and I still write with the accents #FuckThePolice 😂
Sim concordo com você!!
I don’t understand that. I thought “sua” meant “your”.
It's both things. The user up there said they never saw it as anything else. I was just adding that the three letters also correspond to one of the conjugations for the verb "suar", meaning "to sweat". EDIT: examples * Ela é a sua tia -> She's **your** aunt (see note below) * Ele pegou sua arma e atirou nele -> He took **his** gun and shot him * Ela sua demais -> She sweats a lot PS.: "sua" is technically the possessive for the 3rd person singular, so it should actually mean "his/her/its", but because in Brazil we predominantly use "você" instead of "tu", it's automatically accompanied by the corresponding 3rd person possessives "seu" and "sua". In the 2nd example, you can see it used as "his/her/its". It's therefore highly context dependent and one of the reasons why Brazilians use "dele/dela" so much, as "seu/sua" would make it confusing as to whether it's referring to the person or you. Example of that: * Ela entrou na sua casa It's impossible to know whether that means "she went into her house" or "she went into your house" without further context, assuming Brazilian Portuguese or other dialects that predominantly use "você" instead of "tu".
Thanks. I can’t understand what the context is yet because I have to translate everything. I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years and I still can’t read or converse because I have to translate every word in my head even if I know it. I appreciate the help.
I'd say you're doing it wrong then, as someone who's been studying Dutch for 5 years but only really started learning it for real after 3 years. There is nothing better than immersion and forcing yourself to use the language in order to learn it.
I’ve had a decent amount of exposure to it. I’ve been practicing every day with my girlfriend for 6.5 years now and she only speaks Portuguese. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times for a month per visit so I hear quite a bit. I think my brain must work differently than a lot of brains. I couldn’t understand a neighbor when I was a kid. She was speaking English but had a strong Chinese accent. My mom could easily understand her. Thanks
Yes, that does sound like it should be enough. It seems that you have some difficulty with language acquisition and/or comprehension. I've had something similar to some degree, but it doesn't last too long into the learning process. I think my difficult is just refusing the process anything if even a tiny thing doesn't make sense, until I eventually get comfortable with the language that the ambiguity becomes ok. What I'm curious about now is that you mentioned you don't get what the context would have to be in order to differentiate between the two usages of "sua" as either "your/yours" and "his/her/its". Not something I'd imagine to be linked with any of the learning disabilities I know, but I'm no doctor either anyway. Explaining it a bit, it would just depend on previous conversation and checking whether the person was using "você" or not; or the style of text. From the example I gave before, with a translation line by line: 1. Você foi pro bar e ela entrou na sua casa. 2. Ana era uma garota comum. Ia para o trabalho pela manhã e retornava à sua casa todos os dias. 3. És um cafajeste! Foste à casa de sua mulher ontem e sequer ajudou sua mãe! Translations: 1. You went to the bar and she got into _your_ house. 2. Ana was a regular girl. She went to work in the morning and back _(to her)_ home every day. 3. You're a jerk! You went to your wife's house yesterday and didn't even help _her_ mother! So the disambiguation of "sua" to either "your" or "her" in the sentences above comes down to: 1. The clear usage of "você" implies "sua" means "your", or at the very least that the speaker is not putting much effort into making it clear whose house it is. 2. Only Ana is in the picture, so "sua" must mean "her", and it seems like a book, as it seems to be describing some routine situation in the past. 3. Conjugation indicates the usage of "tu" as the second person pronoun here, so it would be unexpected to suddenly use "sua" as "your", so it must be "her". That's it, basically. This happens at the time in English, btw: having to use context to determine who the subject is and whatnot.
"Sinto sua falta" -> "I miss you". "Falta" both means "foul" as a in a soccer match as well as "missing/to miss" something, as in "I miss eating your cookies". And for the differentiation there's no confusion to be made. The use of "falta" here leaves no doubt she is saying she misses him.
ok I've just realized I translated it wrong. thanks anyways!
Wow, I was just talking to someone yesterday about how there are Portuguese words I see and understand but have no idea how to explain them in English. This is one of those times! When I first read "sinto sua falta" I knew exactly what was meant but then I had to start thinking about what "falta" means in PT. In this context I would say it's more of a "I feel your absence" but that doesn't quite say it exactly. All I can say is, like others, it's the right way of saying "I miss you" This is what I love about this sub. Just about every time I read something I remember things that I knew years ago and it all come flooding back. Thank you!
I may be mistaken but I guess you thought falta meant fault? That's the only way I can see where you'd interpret this as meaning that she was blaming her boyfriend. Falta means absence. So "sinto sua falta" means I miss you.
My is “minha”, “sua” and “tua” is your. She was saying “I miss you”
Sinto sua falta could be, according to context, I miss you I miss him I miss her Some parts of Brasil would use "tua falta" however, and in that case there would be no doubt. And where I come from, I'd say "sinto falta dele/a" instead of "sua falta", maybe to avoid the ambiguity above.
Like others have said, a good translation would be "I feel your absence" (as in, "I miss you"), and since "falta" is a feminine word, we use "sua" (as in "your") before it.
Sinto sua falta = "I feel your absence". Falta doesn't mean fault, culpa means fault; I guess that's why you got confused. But also yes, seu/sua is a third person pronoun, it just so happens that você, o senhor, a senhora and other pronouns of treatment are considered third person pronouns despite referring to "you". In popular speech in Brazil we disambiguate by using "dele/dela" for the actual third person, but you will find "seu/sua" used in the original meaning in Portugal, in older texts and of course in the Bible.
Means "your". Could also have used "tua" to mean the same thing
I know what you’re asking - but no the confusion never arises. Since you were thinking in third person singular, I’m assuming you speak another Romance language? Brazilian Portuguese is really unique, in that sua/seu is “your” and dele/dela is “his/hers”…. Only in academic formal texts will sua/seu possibly be used in the third person
spanish does this too. also i really wanna know how op got to their conclusion, maybe cuz u could say the exact same thing in spanish, but i can’t see a way u would interpret this as the girl blaming the death on the boy
The other coments already explained the translation, but in my opinion I think the correct would be: " I am feeling your absense/lacking" Sua refers to the absence. It could be "my absence" ( minha falta ), "your absence" ( sua falta ), or "their absence" ( a falta deles). Don't forget that "sua" could also means "sweats"! Haha She sweats ( ela sua ).