"Tem uma cobra naquelas botas."

Translation: There is a snake in those boots.

[brunodc2011]

Is anyone else reminded of toy story with this sentence? THERE'S A SNAKE IN MY BOOT!! hehe

[GeniusJack]

If Woody was Brazilian:

[ShaneTheKing]

You're my hero

[simong02]

I only opened the comments so I could like whoever pointed this out!

[Phobic]

It somehow sounded so harmless when he said it in the movie. I never expected it to spread to the other boot.

[thabocs]

Came to the comments just for this

[vincemat]

Hold on, so there's a single snake in multiple boots? Talented snake, haha

[0x006ea1e5]

This is a silly sentence, but I guess the head could be in one boot and the tail in the other. Or the snake's inside a boot, which is inside another boot. Or there is one snake in one boot, but the boot is part of a pair, and it is not know which boot the snake is in, just that it is one of the boots which are part of the pair.

Or it is a valid - yet false - proposition, such as "all translations are wrong"

[jonwentzel]

Better look in your shoes before you put them on!

[mightyphil2000]

Could one also say "há uma cobra naquelas botas?" If not why not?

[AnaLauraJunq]

You can say it, but we use more "tem".

[Riscasillas]

So what's a cobra in portugese? I answered there is a cobra in those boots and it is wrong

[louwizz1600]

cobra JUST means "snake"

[Riscasillas]

but how do you call a cobra then?

[louwizz1600]

"naja" apparently http://www.wordreference.com/enpt/cobra

[jimeluiz]

why not "you have a snake in those boots?"

[notamonkey]

without a possessive, tem means 'there is'. only with one it means 'has'.

[chris736518]

Can I also say 'Há uma cobra naquelas botas.'?

[AnaLauraJunq]

You can use it, but we "tem" is more common. But yeah, "Há" is also correct.

[GlennaSol]

Yes, I believe so, though I am not a native speaker.

[lozanver]

Is it possible to say "naquelas botas tem uma cobra"?

[Paulenrique]

Yes, but this order is less common.

[johnpatdou]

So, it's incorrect to say "there's a cobra in those boots", but correct to say "there's a snake in those boots"?

[SaskiaNavaratnam]

Cobra in the English language has a completely different name in Portuguese. Cobra is literally translated to snake.

[GlennaSol]

Yes, "cobra" is a false cognate. The meanings of it in English and Portuguese are related - a cobra is a type of snake. But in English, the meaning is more narrow, a certain type of snake, while in Portuguese, the specific snake is "naja". Be careful with cognates and check to see how much of the meaning is the same.

[ViBritannia]

This is an ambiguous sentence due to Portuguese being a null-subject language- the subject can be omitted in the sentence and you're left to speculate about what it is. So this could be interpreted as "[Ele/ela/voce] tem uma combra naquelas botas."

[juanlingo4]

Why is you have now translated as there is. I thought tem is you have

[GlennaSol]

If there isn't a subject, or an understood subject, then "tem" mean there is/there are. It's used like the verb "haver" in this situation. Using "ha" for there is/there are is more formal, and "tem" more informal.

[AnaLauraJunq]

There is/are é como o verbo haver, como se estivesse dizendo "há uma cobra naquelas botas" que tem o mesmo significado que "tem". A diferença normalmente é que "have" é algo mais permanente: "I have a house" "I have a car". Agora o there is/are é algo mais no presente, que está acontecendo no momento: "There are a lot of people commenting about this" "There is a doubt about this sentence" "There is a snake in those boots".

[Scutigera]

I did read the comments, but I still would like to understand why this is not, S/He has/You have a snake in those boots (for instance telling the clerk at a shoe store, or telling someone about the owner of the shoe store I suppose).

What would make this sentence differ from, "S/He has/You have a snake in those boots"?

Or even "It has" as in a store (loja) for boots...

[GScottOliver]

It could be one of those things, but from doing these lessons I get the idea that Tem by itself with no subject means "It has", which is the way Romance languages say "There is". cf. Fr. Il y a and Sp. Hay.

[Scutigera]

Thank you. :)

This is another reason not to rely on the flexing of the verb to drop the 3rd Person pronouns when they apply.

[FabioDrinksWater]

If there is only a snake, how boots are in plural?

[Scutigera]

Do you know which boot the snake is in?

.

"Naquelas" indicates the boots are far away.

[K.I.2]

Is there a difference if you say: tem uma cobra NESSAS botas?

[Paulenrique]

It's also right.

[AnaLauraJunq]

"Nessas" sounds the boots are closer then "naquelas".

[christopher.king]

I'm confused about the proper use of ter versus estar. Is it okay to say "Está uma cobra..." ?