Vocafy - Aprendizagem eficaz de idiomas Vocafy - Aprendizagem eficaz de idiomas
Gramática
Sentence structure A1 A2 B1

It as a subject

Use it for time, weather, distance, opinions, and delayed subjects.

A traduzir as explicações...
Por agora, mostramos a lição original em inglês.
Guia visual

It as a subject: fill the front slot

English wants a subject at the front
(subject = the first who/what place)

No real person or thing to put there?
              ↓
            use It
              ↓
[ It ] + [ situation frame ] + [ real details ]

weather      → It's raining.
time         → It's five o'clock.
opinion      → It's easy to get lost here.
time needed  → It takes about twenty minutes to walk there.

It here = subject filler, not a thing.

Use it to fill English’s required subject place when the sentence is about a situation, or when the real idea comes later.

Introduction

Why English uses it here

English usually needs an expressed subject. When there is no real person or thing doing the action, we often use it as an empty or situation subject. It lets the sentence talk naturally about time, weather, distance, or a whole situation: “It's Monday.” “It's raining.” “It's ten minutes to the station.” In these sentences, it does not name an object. It simply fills the subject position so the important information can come after the verb.
Core Gramática A1 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It's Monday.

Use it as the required subject when giving the day.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's Monday
time/date subject frame
A complete frame for saying the day or date with dummy it.
Aprende como uma unidade
Core Gramática A1 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It's raining.

The it does not refer to a thing; it fills the subject position for weather.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's raining
weather frame
A common weather sentence with it as the subject.
Aprende como uma unidade
Core Gramática A1 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It's ten minutes to the station.

Use it to introduce a distance or travel-time estimate.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's ten minutes
distance/time estimate frame
A reusable start for distance or travel-time estimates.
Aprende como uma unidade
to the station
destination phrase
Shows the endpoint of the distance or journey.
Core logic

It fills the subject slot

The core logic is: put it in the subject place, then say what is true about the situation. With be, the pattern is it + be + description: “It's five o'clock.” With weather verbs, the pattern is it + weather verb: “It rained all night.” This it does not answer “who?” or “what thing?” It is a grammatical subject, not a meaningful noun. The real message is usually the time, weather, distance, condition, or opinion after the verb.
Core Gramática A1 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It's five o'clock.

Time expressions commonly use it as the subject.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's five o'clock
clock-time frame
A complete frame for saying the time.
Aprende como uma unidade
Core Gramática A2 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It rained all night.

Weather verbs also need it as the subject.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It rained
weather verb frame
A reusable weather-verb pattern with it as subject.
Aprende como uma unidade
all night
time phrase
Says when or how long the weather happened.
Core pattern

Time, weather, and distance frames

For time, dates, weather, and distance, the frame is highly reusable. Use it with clock time, days, general weather adjectives, weather verbs, and distance expressions. In questions with be, move be before it: “Is it cold outside?” For distance, keep it at the start: “It's a long way to the airport.” With weather verbs in simple tenses, use do-support in questions: “Did it rain?” The subject it stays even when the real topic feels obvious from context.
Question Gramática A1 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

Is it cold outside?

In questions with be, put be before it.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

Is it cold
weather question frame
A reusable question frame with be before it.
Aprende como uma unidade
outside
place phrase
Adds the place or situation.
Core Gramática A1 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

It's a long way to the airport.

Use it with distance descriptions such as a long way.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's a long way
distance frame
A natural frame for saying that a place is far.
Aprende como uma unidade
to the airport
destination phrase
Names the destination.
Question Gramática A2 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

Did it rain?

With simple-tense weather verbs, use do-support in questions.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

Did it rain
weather question with do
A reusable past simple question frame for a weather verb.
Aprende como uma unidade
Core pattern

Opinions and delayed subjects

It also helps when the real subject is long, especially an action or a whole clause. Instead of starting with the long idea, English often starts with it and places the long idea later. Use it + be + adjective + to action: “It's easy to get lost here.” Add for + person when the opinion applies to someone: “It's important for us to be on time.” Use it + be + adjective/noun + that clause for a full idea: “It's clear that she needs help.” “It's a shame that the shop is closed.”
Core Gramática A2 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

It's easy to get lost here.

The real action comes later as a to-infinitive.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's easy
evaluation frame
A reusable opinion/evaluation frame with dummy it.
Aprende como uma unidade
to get lost here
delayed action
Names the action being evaluated.
Core Gramática A2 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

It's important for us to be on time.

For + person can show who needs to do the delayed action.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's important for us
evaluation plus affected person
A reusable frame for saying who the evaluation concerns.
Aprende como uma unidade
to be on time
delayed action
Names the action that is important.
Core Gramática B1 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

It's clear that she needs help.

It can delay a full that-clause until after the adjective.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's clear that
that-clause evaluation frame
A reusable frame for introducing a clear fact or conclusion.
Aprende como uma unidade
she needs help
delayed clause
Gives the full idea after that.
Spoken Gramática B1 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

It's a shame that the shop is closed.

A noun phrase such as a shame can also evaluate a delayed that-clause.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's a shame that
noun evaluation frame
A reusable frame for reacting to a situation.
Aprende como uma unidade
the shop is closed
delayed clause
Names the situation being judged.
Sentence xray

X-ray: it takes + time

In “It takes about twenty minutes to walk there,” the word it fills the subject position. The verb takes connects the situation with a time amount. About twenty minutes is the amount, and to walk there is the delayed action. The reusable frame is it takes + time + to action. In questions, use do-support because take is an ordinary verb: “Does it take long to get there?” This pattern is common for journeys, tasks, forms, phone calls, and everyday plans.
Core Gramática A2 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It takes about twenty minutes to walk there.

It takes + time + to-infinitive is a key frame for duration.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It takes
duration frame
The core frame for saying how much time an action needs.
Aprende como uma unidade
about twenty minutes
time amount
Says the amount of time.
to walk there
delayed action
Names the action that takes time.
Question Gramática A2 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

Does it take long to get there?

Use does with take in present simple questions.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

Does it take long
duration question frame
A reusable question frame for asking about duration.
Aprende como uma unidade
to get there
delayed action
Names the action or journey.
Contrast

It is not there is

The closest confusion is it versus there. Use there is or there are to introduce the existence or presence of something: “There's a café near the station.” Use it when the thing is already known and you are describing it: “It's near the station.” If you say “It is a café near the station” to mean that a café exists, the sentence sounds wrong because the thing has not been introduced. Also, do not use dummy it when a real subject is already present: say “The train is late,” not it is late the train.
Contrast Gramática A1 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

There's a café near the station.

Use there is, not dummy it, to introduce the existence of something.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

There's a café
existence frame
A reusable frame for introducing something that exists or is present.
Aprende como uma unidade
near the station
place phrase
Says where it is.
Contrast Gramática A1 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It's near the station.

Here it refers back to a known café, so it is not an empty subject.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It's near the station
known-thing description
Use it when the thing is already known and you are describing it.
Aprende como uma unidade
Mistake Gramática A1 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

It is a café near the station.

This is a common error when the speaker wants to introduce that a café exists. Use there is instead.

Corrected Gramática A1 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

The train is late.

When there is a real subject, do not add dummy it.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

The train is late
real subject frame
Use the real noun as subject when you are describing that noun directly.
Aprende como uma unidade
Form variations

Questions, negatives, and tense

Make questions and negatives according to the verb. With be, put be before it in questions and put not after be in negatives: is it, was it, it is not, it was not. “It wasn't easy to cancel the booking.” With weather verbs and take, use do-support in simple tenses: did it rain, does it take, it did not rain. “It didn't take long.” It can also appear after modals: it may rain, it could be difficult. The subject it stays in the sentence.
Negative Gramática A2 Vocabulário A2 Neutral

It wasn't easy to cancel the booking.

With be, put not after the be form.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It wasn't easy
negative evaluation frame
A reusable negative frame with be + not.
Aprende como uma unidade
to cancel the booking
delayed action
Names the action being evaluated.
Negative Gramática A2 Vocabulário A1 Neutral

It didn't take long.

With take in the past simple, use didn't before the base verb take.

Blocos de sentido

Lê a frase por blocos de sentido, não palavra a palavra.

It didn't take long
negative duration frame
A reusable negative frame with take and do-support.
Aprende como uma unidade
Summary

Key frames to remember

Use it as subject when the sentence talks about time, date, weather, distance, a general situation, an evaluation with a delayed action, a that-clause, or the time needed for an action. The main frames are it + be + time or description, it + weather verb, it + be + adjective or noun + to action, it + be + adjective or noun + that clause, and it takes + time + to action. Choose there is or there are instead when introducing something that exists or is present.
Não utilizamos cookies de publicidade de terceiros nem píxeis de rastreio entre sites.
Utilizamos cookies e tecnologias semelhantes para manter a app a funcionar corretamente, analisar o desempenho e melhorar a tua experiência.
Podes gerir as tuas preferências a qualquer momento.

Que bom ver-te de novo!

Inicia sessão para continuar

Esqueceste-te da palavra-passe?
Ainda não tens uma conta? Criar conta