B1 · Can, want, must · about 3 minutes
Advising and recommending
Three weights of advice, and the heaviest is already a reproach.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need3
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- calar-seto fall silent
- a antecedênciathe advance notice
- verificarto check
Missing a word? Look it up in the dictionary
Understand
Rememberdevias advises, é melhor weighs, fazias melhor warns.
- Signal words
- devias
- devia
- é melhor
- era melhor
- devias ter
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Portuguese. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending
| I should | (eu) devia |
| you should | (tu) devias |
| he / she should, you should | (ele / ela / você) devia |
| we should | (nós) devíamos |
| you should, plural and formal | (vós) devíeis |
| they should, you should (plural) | (eles / elas / vocês) deviam |
| it is better | é melhor |
| it would be better | era melhor |
| you would do better to | fazias melhor em |
| you should have | devias ter |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
dever in the imperfect advises, in the present it obliges.
Devias descansar.You should rest.
é melhor plus the infinitive, with no preposition.
É melhor partir cedo.It is better to leave early.
fazias melhor em plus the infinitive, with em.
Fazias melhor em calar-te.You would do better to keep quiet.
devias ter plus participle looks back and reproaches.
Devias ter-me avisado.You should have warned me.
Example sentences
Devia consultar um médico.You should see a doctor.
É melhor reservar com antecedência.It is better to book in advance.
Fazias melhor em verificar duas vezes.You would do better to check twice.
1 more example sentences
Devíamos ter apanhado o comboio.We should have taken the train.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
After é melhor the infinitive follows directly; after fazias melhor it needs an em. Two pieces of advice that sound alike and part company at that one point.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
One lesson, one clear goal: you pass with 80% right on the first try. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself4 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
Your progress
What your lesson on this topic shows:
The lesson decides this, not a button: passed at 80% on the first try, mastered when you pass it again on another day.
Next on the path: 104 · Verbs that change with seBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English « should » is dever in the imperfect: devias. The same form that carries duty, weakened — and as with queria, the imperfect here is not a past tense.
É melhor is impersonal and therefore milder, the equivalent of « it is better to ». Era melhor is more cautious still — the imperfect again, as a softener.
Fazias melhor em is your « you'd better », warning and all. It is worth knowing that in both languages this is the heavy end: « you'd better sit down » is not a suggestion, and neither is fazias melhor em te sentares. Faz bem em, by contrast, praises a decision already taken.
And the heaviest weight is not advice at all. Devias ter plus a participle looks back: devias ter dito — you should have said. Nobody can act on that, which is what makes it a reproach.
The verbs on this page, in every form: dever · ser · ter · fazer · partir · apanhar · avisar · reservar · verificar · calar-se