"Meu neto quer ser bispo."

Translation: My grandson wants to be a bishop.

[microgriff]

so where is the 'a' word about the bishop.. looks like '.. wants to be bishop' which works in English anyway too by the way.. but no word there for 'a ' or 'the' (?)

[Paulenrique]

to express professions in general (when you use "a/an" in English) you use no article in Portuguese. I'm a doctor = Eu sou médico.

[microgriff]

ok thanks : )

[BillyWonde1]

This particulcase seems ambiguous to me. It's perfectly acceptable in english to say "I want to be bishop" just like someone might say "I want to be king/queen"

I feel like a similar sentence: "My grandson wants to be president" would translate to "Meu neto quer ser presidente"

Maybe this is because bishop/king/queen/president are not only professions, but are also titles?

I also feel like I'm splitting hairs, so I apologize for that.

[David6809]

What's wrong with "My grandson needs his head examined."

[TucanDann]

Lol sounds legit

[CaterinaSa614356]

what is the difference between nephew and grandson?

[Paulenrique]

• nephew = sobrinho

  A son of one's brother or sister or of the brother or sister of one's spouse.

• grandson = neto

  a son of one's son or daughter.

[ZackReagin]

Why limit yourself to just the diagonals? He should set his goals higher and aim to be a Queen!

[KenjiMurat1]

Is ”My grandson wants to become a bishop” not good?

[Rafe_]

In Portuguese, there is a noticable difference between "to be" and "to become". When referring to profession, it is weird to say "become" - at least to a portuguese speaker - so it is more usual to use "be".