Changed plans and advice in Portuguese: ia fazer and faria
A student who also works is at home with a classmate; there is homework to do. Yesterday’s work plan changed, and today the classmate offers advice. Learn to keep the intention, the actual result and an imagined choice separate.
Words for the plan and the choice
Trabalhar means work, fazer means do a task, and ficar here means remain in a place, not stay overnight as a guest. A febre is a fever; casa is home, and em casa means at home; a lição de casa is homework, even when done elsewhere. Ontem is yesterday, hoje is today, ainda means still, and aqui is here, at A’s home in this exchange. Eu means I; the subject can be left out when clear, as before fiquei. Listen to the words before the conversation.
Ir on this card is the auxiliary in ia trabalhar, a past intention, rather than movement to a destination; estava and estou in the conversation are forms of estar, used here for a state.
Background, result and an imagined choice
Recover trabalhava (I worked habitually or was working), estava trabalhando (I was working at a given past moment), and trabalhei (I worked, presented as a completed event). These distinguish background or a process from a whole event; they do not simply distinguish long and short actions. Eu ficaria aqui means I would remain here: ficaria is ficar in the conditional, traditionally called futuro do pretérito. Fazer gives faria, I would do; these useful advice forms need no full sentence beginning with se (if) here.
Eu ficaria aqui.
Yesterday’s plan, today’s advice
Listen in order: A explains yesterday, then says what is still true today; B offers a choice for today, not a report of B’s own past. Ia trabalhar means was going to work; mas means but, and fiquei em casa means I stayed home. Estava com febre means I had a fever; por isso means so or for that reason; não fui trabalhar means I did not go to work, with não before fui (I went, from ir). Estou com febre means I have a fever now, so ainda connects the present situation with yesterday. A in a lição de casa is the feminine singular article; No seu lugar means in your place, and eu faria a lição de casa aqui means I would do the homework here.
- A
Ontem eu ia trabalhar, mas fiquei em casa.
- A
Eu estava com febre, por isso não fui trabalhar.
- A
Hoje eu ainda estou com febre.
- B
No seu lugar, eu ficaria aqui.
- B
Eu faria a lição de casa aqui.
An intention viewed from the past
In Ontem eu ia trabalhar, ia is the imperfect form of ir used as an auxiliary, followed by the infinitive trabalhar: the work was intended or expected from that past viewpoint, rather than already in progress. Compare ia fazer a lição de casa (was going to do the homework) with faria a lição de casa (would do the homework, as advice here). In this story, mas fiquei em casa and não fui trabalhar tell us that the work plan was not carried out. Ia plus an infinitive by itself does not guarantee cancellation: use the following context to learn the result. Replacing ia trabalhar with estava trabalhando would say the work was in progress, which changes the story.
Eu ia trabalhar / fazer a lição de casa, mas …
Ontem eu ia trabalhar, mas fiquei em casa.
Put yourself in the other person’s position
No seu lugar, eu ficaria aqui means in your place, I would stay here: no joins em and o, seu refers to the person addressed, and lugar here is that person’s position. The phrase sets up an imagined perspective, and ficaria gives the speaker’s advice about today; it does not say that the speaker already stayed here. Eu faria a lição de casa aqui continues that advice with an action; faria is the irregular conditional of fazer. Compare the completed result fiquei with the suggestion ficaria, and the past intention ia fazer with the suggestion faria. Keep ficaria and faria for your own advice in this lesson.
No seu lugar, eu ficaria aqui / faria a lição de casa aqui.
No seu lugar, eu ficaria aqui.
Eu faria a lição de casa aqui.
Recognize colloquial advice from its context
You may also hear No seu lugar, eu ia ficar aqui in informal Brazilian conversation, with the meaning of the advice just given: in your place, I would stay here. In this setting, no seu lugar and the current choice support a hypothetical reading of ia ficar, not a report of a cancelled past plan. This does not make ia and faria universally interchangeable: yesterday’s narrative and today’s imagined advice give different readings. Recognize this alternative when listening; you are not asked to produce it.
- informal
No seu lugar, eu ia ficar aqui.
Pass on the facts, then give advice
A classmate missed the conversation: tell them in your own language what A intended yesterday, what actually happened, why, and what remains true today. Keep B’s advice separate from those facts; the conversation never says that A did the homework. Now speak as A in Portuguese: give two or three connected sentences using ontem, mas, por isso and hoje, using the words already explained. Then take B’s part and offer two connected suggestions with No seu lugar, eu ficaria… and Eu faria…, using aqui and a lição de casa. Try before looking below; check that your account keeps yesterday’s abandoned work plan separate from today’s suggested choice.
Ontem eu ia trabalhar, mas fiquei em casa.
No seu lugar, eu ficaria aqui.
Let the situation settle the meaning
Ontem eu ia trabalhar names a past intention; fiquei em casa supplies the actual result. No seu lugar, eu ficaria aqui and Eu faria a lição de casa aqui offer imagined choices today. Colloquial ia ficar can also express advice in the context shown, so a form alone does not settle its meaning. Listen once more, then retell the situation with a past plan, its result and a recommendation.
Ontem eu ia trabalhar, mas fiquei em casa.
Eu faria a lição de casa aqui.