how do i ask my friend If she is at school in Portuguese?
I want to ask my friend If she is at the school right now or If she is taking classes atm. I searched alot for this sentence but I didn't find it. I need some help T-T

and yeah I have another question, I saw some sentences about school and I was a little bit confused. When do I use "escola" and when do I use "faculdade" is it the same or what?

Question

how do i ask my friend If she is at school in Portuguese?
I want to ask my friend If she is at the school right now or If she is taking classes atm. I searched alot for this sentence but I didn't find it. I need some help T-T

and yeah I have another question, I saw some sentences about school and I was a little bit confused. When do I use "escola" and when do I use "faculdade" is it the same or what?

Answer

I will show you two sets of examples their respective matches in Brazilian Portuguese.

1. Here imagine you are talking to a friend on the phone or texting her/him. You want to know where he or she is at the moment. Three possible questions:
- Are you in school (high school/elementary school...) (right now)?
  >>> Você está na escola / no colégio (agora)?
- Are you in college/school (right now)?
  >>> Você está na faculdade (agora)?
- Are you at the university (right now)?
  >>> Você está na universidade (agora)?
[INFORMAL: Você 'tá na/no...]

2. Here imagine you are getting to know someone or you are filling out a form with personal information about someone.
- Do you attend school (high school/elementary school...)?
  >>> Você estuda? / Você frequenta escola? / Você frequenta colégio?
- Do you go to/attend college? Do you take courses in college?
  >>> Você faz faculdade? / Você faz curso superior?
- Do you go to/attend/study at a university?
  >>> Você estuda em universidade? / Você faz curso superior?

A 'faculdade' is much smaller than an 'universidade', the former often being a division of the latter. A 'medical school', for example, is called a 'faculdade de medicina' (seldom 'escola de medicina') and is usually part of an 'universidade', which itself contains further schools. Also, there are a lot of private 'faculdades', education organizations that provide some undergraduate or graduate programs.

Pay attention to the exact meaning of 'colégio', which does not mean 'college' but rather an institution mandatorily attended before. Also, it doesn't refer to a language school or any other company or institution that offers complementary courses. The right word for this is 'escola', whose meaning is broader. Every 'colégio' is an 'escola' but not all 'escolas' are 'colégios'. Last, it is possible, even though very rare, to call a college an 'escola', provided the program is specified: 'escola de direito' (unusual) means 'faculdade de direito' (usual).

Answer

To answer your second question:
Escola is normally equal to (high) school (i.e. before you study at the university)
Faculdade is actually a part (Faculty) of the Universidade (University) imo.

First question: Depends on if your friends is in high school or university actually.
Regarding university: (Você) está fazendo um curso no momento? 
Regarding school: (Você) está na escola?

Hope this helps. :-)

Answers · 2

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