"Onde ficam os chuveiros?"

Translation:Where are the showers?

March 7, 2013

This discussion is locked.


I love how similar these words are to their English equivalents while having a distinct Portuguese flavor :)

February 11, 2014


but there's a fun fact: chuva is rain in Português, so the word "shower" probably didn't come from making a show

May 14, 2018


Why is it better to say ficam versus são?

May 15, 2013


You can use both. "FICAR" is often used for asking about locations.

May 15, 2013


what about estão? I thought estar is used for locations instead of ser?

July 11, 2013


Estão is for the locations of things that move around. People and objects.

Ficam for things that can't be moved, like a shower. Or even fot the place where movable things "use to be".

If I ask "onde fica a caneta", it means the place where the pen is usually found. If I ask "onde está a caneta", I probably have already looked in the usual place and didn't find it, so the location became a changeable thing.

September 15, 2013


Ficar comes from the Latin facere which gave us the English words fixture and fixed. I think of fixed locations with ficar.

I hope that helps someone :)

July 7, 2014


Since I can't directly reply to chaered, I'll add yes, figere does contribute to ficar. A linguist friend told me facere and figere contributed to the Portuguese ficar. When facere become compound in Latin the vowels change. Magnificare means to "make magnus (big)". There are a lot of -ficare verbs in Latin. They likely shaped figere into ficar. This is somewhat like how the Spanish hacer has forms derived from facere and agere, both of which can mean "to do", but in different senses.

April 30, 2015


Hm, could it be: L facere/-ficere (to make) => P fazer, E -fy; L figere (to attach) => P ficar, E fix?

April 21, 2015


Duo marked 'Onde são os chuveiros' wrong. The correct answer used 'estão' instead. Why isn't the verb 'ser' correct in this case? Because a shower stays in a fixed position right? 'Estão' seems more like a temporary place.

September 9, 2014


It's unusual to ask it with "estão", unless they are in boxes, recently bought or being transported.

Some people like to ask it like that, specially when visiting someone's house in order to fix a problem. It's quite a "style" thing. "Ficar" is the best verb for fixed things like that.

September 9, 2014


In the sister sentence to this one, where we translate from English to Portuguese, DL does not accept "são" and tells us the correct solution is "estão" instead. :(


The discussion is more confusing there as well.

So bathrooms are fixed, but showers are not?

Where do they go?

No wonder we have to ask all the time! =]

Onde estão os chuveiros, hoje?

It does make the learning more difficult...

Please help? :)

June 5, 2017


The answer with "são" was added. But it doesn't sound good as "ficam".

Since it's a small object, instead of somewhere you go to, it doesn't go very well with "ser". But it's not wrong. Probably the plural has an influence in this good sounding, once the singular sentence would be just great with "é".

You can also see showers as movable (after all, they are objects and you can be installing them, for instance)

June 5, 2017


Thank you Danmoller.

I would be okay with "ficar" working here and not "ser" (though it did work for banheiro), but "estar" threw me off, especially since we are not privileged to "estar" knowledge yet. :)

However, how many people carry a chuveiro around with them (looking for pipes to attach it to)? :)

Are there multiple banheiros (casas de banho) in a home but just the one chuveiro? :)

But I do now fully understand that it means the showerhead and not really the/a shower (as in the space we step into to take showers, nor the act).



It will be interesting to find out what, "get in the shower" translates to in Portuguese. :)

Oh wait... (in Simple Present even):


June 5, 2017


Hey :)

Get in the shower is most likely "entrar no chuveiro".

Other options are "ir para o chuveiro". If it's imperative, it's better with "ir": vá para o chuveiro.

June 6, 2017


Muito obrigada por seu explicaçao!

March 9, 2017


That can be used too

July 11, 2013


Im assuming "ficar" is for stationary things? Because the literal translation would be "where stays the showers"... Correct? Or am i wrong.

August 31, 2016


You're right.

August 31, 2016


I translated it "where are the showers located?" and it was CORRECT. Wow.

October 30, 2013


Yes, the meaning is the same.

January 13, 2014


They use ducha in Brazil as well. Maybe not everywhere but at least in Rio.

September 7, 2016


Interesting. That is also the Spanish word for shower, but the German is dusche which might also have some influence.

However, "Duche" is the word used in Portugal because it seems the "chuveiro" was a Brazilian invention including an on-demand, electric self-heating system (so hence a made-up name no doubt related to the word for rain in Portuguese which is "Chuva"):






Electric shower heads
As the name implies, an electric heating element is incorporated into such shower heads to instantly heat the water as it flows through. These self-heating shower heads are specialized point-of-use (POU) tankless water heaters, and are widely used in some countries.

Invented in Brazil in the 1930s and used frequently since the 1940s, the electric shower is a home appliance often seen in South American countries due to the higher costs of gas distribution. Earlier models were made of chromed copper or brass, which were expensive, but since 1970, units made of injected plastics are popular due to low prices similar to that of a hair dryer. Electric showers have a simple electric system, working like a coffee maker, but with a larger water flow. A flow switch turns on the device when water flows through it. Once the water is stopped, the device turns off automatically. An ordinary electric shower often has three heat settings: low (2.5 kW), high (5.5 kW) or cold (0 W) to use when a central heater system is available or in hot seasons.

So indeed, maybe this question is asking where to find the "chuveiros" at the hardware, or home improvement store. :)

May 6, 2017


I am still novice and yet learning.
I wrote as "Onde ficar os chuveiros?" which turned out to be wrong. Request to specify the difference between "ficar" and "ficam" Thanks,

September 5, 2015


'Ficar' is the infinitive 'to be (located)'. 'Ficam' is the present tense '(They) are'

October 7, 2015


Thanks for the differentiating the Ficar and Ficam. Now I will remember this.

October 8, 2015


So just to get this straight...

Ser = "to be" for physical description, unchanging characteristics, most permanent things

Estar = also "to be" for location of moving things, temporary conditions, most non-permanent things

Ficar = "to be (???)" for location of non-moving things, where things are kept

Am I on the right track?

June 5, 2017


'Where the showers are?' I wouldn't ask that as a question in English

March 15, 2013


you'd ask "where are the showers?" That's the question :)

March 27, 2013


Weird. 'Chuveiro' and 'Shower' are false cognates obviously. They have same meaning but different origin. One has to do with 'To rain' and the other with 'wind' or 'rain winds'. There origins also share some meaning.

March 22, 2016
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