tão fazer greve

You’ll mostly see this paired with the verb estar. For example, Eles estão a fazer greve (They are striking). In Brazil, you’ll hear Eles estão fazendo greve. If you’re talking about a future plan, you use vão fazer greve. Notice how we don't use 'go' like in English. In Portuguese, you 'do' or 'make' the strike. It’s like a project you’re working on, except the project is not working. It’s simple, direct, and very common in news headlines or WhatsApp group rants about public transport. Just remember: fazer is the engine here.

Imagine you’re waiting for an Uber and nothing shows up. You check the news: Os motoristas decidiram fazer greve. (The drivers decided to strike). Or you’re at home and your roommate asks why the laundry is still wet. You point at the machine and say, A máquina fez greve!. It’s perfect for those 'Are you kidding me?' moments. On TikTok, you might see a student posting a video of a blank notebook with the caption Meu cérebro fez greve hoje. It’s the universal code for 'I’m done for the day.' It’s also very common in professional emails when explaining delays due to postal strikes.

Use it whenever there’s a formal labor dispute. It’s the standard term for any union-led walkout. You can also use it informally to be funny. If your friend refuses to go to the gym, tell them, Você está fazendo greve de academia?. It’s great for adding a bit of flavor to a boring conversation about things not working. Use it when you want to sound like a native who understands that sometimes, life just pauses. It’s very effective in customer service situations too. Saying O sistema fez greve? to a frustrated clerk might even get you a sympathetic smile.

Don't use it for a permanent break. If your phone is shattered and dead forever, it’s estragado (broken), not em greve. A strike is temporary. Also, don't use it for quitting a job. If you leave forever, you se demite. Fazer greve implies you want to come back once your demands are met. Avoid using it in extremely tragic situations. If a hospital stops working due to a disaster, saying they are 'making a strike' would be very confusing and insensitive. It’s about a choice to stop, not a forced failure.

One of the biggest traps for English speakers is trying to translate 'go on strike' literally.

Another one is the word order.

Also, many learners confuse tão with estão. In casual speech, people drop the 'es', so they say Eles tão fazendo greve. But if you write tão in a formal essay, your teacher will 'fazer greve' on your grades. Make sure you use the full estão when writing. Finally, don't say fazer uma greve with 'uma' unless you're talking about one specific, singular event in a story. Usually, it’s just fazer greve.

If you want to sound even more like a local, try cruzar os braços. This literally means 'to cross one's arms'. It’s a classic image of someone refusing to work. Another one is paralisação. This is a bit more formal and often used in the news. It means 'stoppage'. If you’re talking about a hunger strike, it’s greve de fome. If workers are doing the bare minimum to slow things down, we call it greve de zelo (work-to-rule). Each one has a slightly different spice, but fazer greve is your reliable, everyday go-to phrase.

In Portugal, you’ll almost always hear the estar a + infinitive structure: estão a fazer greve. In Brazil, the gerund is king: estão fazendo greve. Sometimes people use entrar em greve (to enter into strike). This is used for the moment the strike starts. Eles entraram em greve à meia-noite. You might also hear estar de greve. This describes the state of being on strike. Estamos de greve há três dias. It’s like being 'on' a diet or 'on' vacation. All these variations are common, so don't get dizzy trying to pick just one!

Can I use this for people? Yes, but mostly for groups. Can I use it for my cat? Absolutely, if they refuse to eat the cheap food. Is it formal? It can be, but it’s very common in slang too. Do I need an article like 'a' or 'the'? Not usually; fazer greve is the standard block. Is it different in Brazil? Only the 'doing' part (fazendo vs fazer). What if I'm just lazy? Then you're just preguiçoso, but you can joke that you're em greve de produtividade to sound more sophisticated.