No. 24 in Portuguese
são
"São" means "are" (3rd person plural of "ser"), "saint" (masculine), or "healthy," depending on context.
In a sentence
Estas são as flores mais bonitas do jardim.
These are the most beautiful flowers in the garden.
In this sentence, 'são' is the third-person plural present indicative form of the verb 'ser', used to indicate identity or description.
Eles são amigos desde a infância.
They have been friends since childhood.
Here, 'são' again is the third-person plural present indicative form of 'ser', utilized to define a state or a relationship.
As festas são animadas durante o carnaval.
The parties are lively during carnival.
In this example, 'são' describes a continuous state or quality of the subject in relation to a cultural event.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “são” in actual Portuguese podcasts.
Find “são” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Portuguese podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into português, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Portuguese books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).