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'Happy with', 'angry at', 'worried about': emotion adjectives that take 'com'

When English speakers describe how something makes them feel, they use a variety of prepositions: happy about the news, angry at someone, disappointed by or in a result, worried about the future, surprised at the price. Portuguese keeps it simple. With a large group of emotion adjectives, the cause or target of the feeling is introduced with com: contente com, decepcionado com, irritado com, preocupado com.

The trap is translating the English preposition word for word. Preocupado sobre, bravo a alguém and surpreso em o preço sound wrong to a native speaker. Once you learn to reach for com, a whole family of everyday sentences falls into place.

Word list
felizA1 happy feliz com tristeA1 sad triste com a notícia alegreA2 happy alegre com a notícia animadomA2 excited animado com a viagem bravomA2 angry bravo com alguém contenteA2 happy contente com alguma coisa empolgadomA2 excited empolgado com a ideia entusiasmadomA2 excited entusiasmado com o projeto infelizA2 sad infeliz com o emprego preocupadomA2 worried preocupado com surpreendidomA2 surprised surpreendido com a notícia surpresomA2 surprised surpreso com zangadomA2 angry zangado com alguém aborrecidomB1 annoyed aborrecido com alguém ansiosomB1 anxious ansioso com assustadomB1 scared assustado com o barulho chateadomB1 annoyed chateado com alguma coisa confusomB1 confused confuso com as instruções contenteB1 satisfied contente com a decisão dececionadomB1 disappointed dececionado com o resultado decepcionadomB1 disappointed decepcionado com desapontadomB1 disappointed desapontado com alguém descontenteB1 dissatisfied descontente com a decisão entediadoB1 bored entediado com a aula estressadomB1 stressed out estressado com o trabalho furiosomB1 angry furioso com a situação insatisfeitomB1 dissatisfied insatisfeito com o serviço irritadomB1 angry irritado com o barulho irritadomB1 annoyed irritado com alguém ou alguma coisa nervosomB1 anxious nervoso com a entrevista satisfeitomB1 satisfied satisfeito com o serviço stressadomB1 stressed out stressado com o trabalho tensomB1 tense tenso com a prova aliviadomB2 relieved aliviado com apavoradomB2 scared apavorado com a ideia constrangidomB2 embarrassed constrangido com a pergunta deprimidomB2 depressed deprimido com a situação desesperadomB2 desperate desesperado com a situação desiludidomB2 disappointed desiludido com alguma coisa embaraçadomB2 embarrassed embaraçado com a pergunta envergonhadomB2 embarrassed envergonhado com a situação frustradoB2 frustrated frustrado com a demora incrédulomB2 incredulous incrédulo com a notícia ressentidomB2 resentful ressentido com alguém paranoicomC1 paranoid paranoico com a segurança conformadomC2 resigned conformado com a situação lisonjeadomC2 flattered lisonjeado com o convite resignadomC2 resigned resignado com a derrota
How it works

The pattern is: estar or ficar + emotion adjective + com + the thing or person that causes the feeling. Use estar to describe a state (estou preocupado) and ficar to describe a reaction, the moment you start feeling it (fiquei surpreso). The adjective agrees with the person who has the feeling, not with the cause.

Com combines with articles without contracting (com o, com a, com os, com as). With pronouns it has special forms: comigo (with me), contigo (with you, informal), connosco in Portugal or conosco in Brazil (with us).

Fiquei decepcionada com o resultado.
(I was disappointed by the result.)
Estamos contentes com a notícia.
(We are happy about the news.)

Rule of thumb: if an English emotion word is followed by about, at, with, by or in plus the cause, try com first.

The words
Happy and satisfied

Feliz, alegre, contente and satisfeito all take com for what pleases you. Lisonjeado (flattered) works the same way, as in lisonjeado com o convite.

O cliente ficou muito satisfeito com o serviço.
(The customer was very pleased with the service.)
Sad and disappointed

Triste, infeliz, decepcionado (Brazilian spelling), dececionado (European spelling), desapontado, desiludido and frustrado all use com, where English says disappointed in, frustrated with or sad about.

A minha mãe está triste com a notícia.
(My mother is sad about the news.)
Angry and annoyed

English says angry at or with someone. Portuguese uses com for both people and things: zangado, bravo (mostly Brazilian in this sense), furioso, irritado, aborrecido, chateado and ressentido.

Ela está brava comigo.
(She is mad at me.)
Estou irritado com o barulho dos vizinhos.
(I am annoyed by the neighbors' noise.)
Worried, nervous and scared

Preocupado, nervoso, ansioso, estressado (Brazil) or stressado (Portugal), desesperado, assustado and apavorado all take com. Where English says worried about or scared of, Portuguese still says com.

Eles estão preocupados com o futuro.
(They are worried about the future.)
Estou nervoso com a entrevista de amanhã.
(I am nervous about tomorrow's interview.)
Excited

Animado, empolgado and entusiasmado introduce what you look forward to with com.

As crianças estão animadas com a viagem.
(The children are excited about the trip.)
Surprised, relieved, bored

Surpreso, surpreendido, aliviado and entediado round off the group.

Fiquei surpreso com o preço.
(I was surprised at the price.)
Ficamos aliviados com o resultado dos exames.
(We were relieved at the test results.)
Os alunos estavam entediados com a aula.
(The students were bored with the class.)
Watch out

Com introduces the cause of the feeling. It is not the only possible option:

  • Happy for someone is feliz por alguém. You are glad on their behalf, and they are not the cause of your feeling.
  • Before a verb, use ao or por + infinitive: surpreso ao descobrir a verdade, feliz por estar aqui.
  • Ansioso por means eager for or looking forward to: ansioso pelas férias. Ansioso com means anxious about.
  • Surpreendido is common in Portugal and also appears with por, especially in passive-like sentences.
Estou muito feliz por você!
(I am really happy for you!)

The typical mistake is copying English: avoid preocupado sobre, zangado a or decepcionado em. In Portugal, aborrecido can also mean bored, so read the context.

Summary

When an emotion adjective is followed by the thing or person that causes the feeling, use com, whatever preposition English uses: feliz com, bravo comigo, preocupado com, surpreso com. Switch to por only when you mean for someone's sake or when a verb follows.