Ser bonito vs. Estar bonito

English translation: To be pretty vs. To look pretty

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Portuguese term or phrase:	Ser bonito vs. Estar bonito
English translation:	To be pretty vs. To look pretty
Entered by:	Teresa Bento

16:40 Nov 20, 2006

Portuguese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Science - Linguistics / Verbs

Portuguese term or phrase: Ser bonito vs. Estar bonito

There’s a difference in the text between these two terms
In the first, “ser bonito” the example is as follows:
ser bonito1SIMPFANT
Giving the gloss:
eu tinha estado bonito
OK, easy enough, right? Wrong.
In the following example:
CRestar bonito1SANT
Giving the gloss:
‘eu bonitei’ (fiquei bonito/tenho estado bonito)
[with bonitei appears in italics, this will have to be another question…]

zabrowa KudoZ activity Questions: 1684 (1 open) (25 closed without grading) Answers: 13
Local time: 14:41

To be pretty vs. To look pretty

Explanation:
É uma sugestão ;)

Selected response from:

Teresa Bento
Portugal
Local time: 13:41

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +7

To be pretty vs. To look pretty

Teresa Bento

4 +5

Explan ation below

suesimons

be beautiful/handsome vs. look pretty/be nice-looking WITH EXPLANATION

Muriel Vasconcellos

Discussion entries: 4

Answers

22 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

Explan ation below

Explanation:
É bonita = She is a pretty girl
Está bonita = She is looking pretty (today e.g.)
As I see it, Matt! Hope this makes sense.

suesimons
Local time: 13:41
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 28

22 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

To be pretty vs. To look pretty

Explanation:
É uma sugestão ;)

Teresa Bento
Portugal
Local time: 13:41
Native speaker of:

Portuguese

5 days confidence:

be beautiful/handsome vs. look pretty/be nice-looking WITH EXPLANATION

Explanation:
IF this is a genuine example from running speech and not an example the author conjured up, and IF the verbs in the original language are different, then the meaning would lie mainly in the qualifying adjective we would use in English to create a gloss. The 'be' vs. 'look' distinction that Teresa made is still useful for the carrier verbs we have to use in English, but not because "ser" and "estar" are perfect equivalents of the original verbs.

SO (if my assumptions apply), the point is to try to forget "ser" and "estar" -- In other words, in Portuguese I don't think you would ever say: 'eu tinha sido bonito'

The glosses would be:

ser bonito1SIMPFANT = 'I used to be beautiful/handsome'

CRestar bonito1SANT = 'I made myself pretty/nice-looking' (in the sense of "gussied up")

Muriel Vasconcellos
United States
Local time: 05:41
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 2542

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Ser bonito vs. Estar bonito

English translation: To be pretty vs. To look pretty

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English translation: To be pretty vs. To look pretty

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