Chapter 1 · Who's Talking: Pronouns, Ser and Estar
Lesson 01-03 · about 5 minutes

Estar (1): Tudo bem? / Estou bem

Goal: Say how you are, how you feel right now, and where you are — and recognize the short spoken forms tô, tá, tamo, tão.

The forms

Estar /isˈta(ʁ)/ is the other “to be.” Where ser says what someone is, estar says how or where someone is right now.

In everyday speech, Brazilians drop the es- and say the short forms on the right. You will hear them constantly; the full forms are what you write.

The first syllable is /is/ for most speakers and /iʃ/ in Rio de Janeiro (estou /iʃˈto(w)/); careful speech may have /es/.

Three everyday jobs of estar

1. How you are: greetings. The standard Brazilian greeting is Tudo bem? (“All good?”). The usual reply is simply Tudo bem or Tudo bom, usually followed by e você? — whatever kind of day you’re actually having. To ask more directly, say Como você tá? (“How are you?”); answer with Tô bem (“I’m fine”).

2. How you feel or what state you’re in right now. Temporary states — tired, busy, late, sick — take estar: Tô cansado (“I’m tired”), Tô atrasado (“I’m late”). For hunger, cold, thirst, and similar sensations, Portuguese uses estar com + a noun, literally “to be with hunger”: Tô com fome (“I’m hungry”).

3. Where someone is right now. Onde você tá? (“Where are you?”) — Tô em casa (“I’m at home”). Use estar for where people and movable things are at the moment.

In conversation

• — Oi, tudo bem? — Tudo bem, e você?/ˈoj ˈtu.du ˈbẽj̃/ — /ˈtu.du ˈbẽj̃ i voˈse/"Hi, how's it going?" "Good, and you?"
• — Como você tá? — Tô bem!/ˈkõ.mu voˈse ˈta/ — /ˈto ˈbẽj̃/"How are you?" "I'm good!"
• Tô muito cansado./ˈto ˈmũj̃.tu kɐ̃ˈsa.du/I'm really tired.
• Tô com fome./ˈto kõ ˈfõ.mi/I'm hungry.
• Desculpa, tô atrasado!/d͡ʒisˈkuw.pɐ ˈto a.tɾaˈza.du/Sorry, I'm running late!
• — Onde você tá? — Tô em casa./ˈõ.d͡ʒi voˈse ˈta/ — /ˈto ẽj̃ ˈka.zɐ/"Where are you?" "I'm at home."
• Ela tá no trabalho agora./ˈɛ.lɐ ˈta nu tɾaˈba.ʎu aˈɡɔ.ɾɐ/She's at work right now.
• — Vamos? — Tá bom./ˈvɐ̃.mus/ — /ˈta ˈbõ/"Shall we go?" "OK."

Watch out

Say tô, write estou. The short forms are normal speech, not slang, and you’ll see them in texts and chat. In emails, forms, and anything formal, write the full forms.

“I’m hungry” and “I’m cold” use estar com. English uses an adjective, but Portuguese uses a noun: Tô com fome (lit. “I’m with hunger”), Tô com frio /ˈto kõ ˈfɾi.u/ (“I’m cold”).

Tá on its own means “OK.” Tá bom or just Tá is the everyday “OK / sounds good.” At the end of a sentence, tá? means “OK?”: Te ligo depois, tá? (“I’ll call you later, OK?”).

Quick check