Questions & Answers about A tábua de corte está limpa.
Why does the sentence start with a?
A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.
In A tábua de corte está limpa, tábua is a feminine singular noun, so it takes a:
- a tábua = the board
- o prato = the plate
Portuguese articles usually agree in gender and number with the noun.
Why is it tábua and not some other word for board?
Tábua is a common word for a board or wooden plank, and in kitchen contexts tábua de corte is the normal expression for cutting board.
So:
- tábua = board / plank
- tábua de corte = cutting board
It is a fixed, natural expression in Brazilian Portuguese.
What does de corte mean literally?
Literally, de corte means for cutting or of cutting.
Portuguese often uses de + noun to describe the purpose of an object:
- tábua de corte = cutting board
- copo de vinho = wine glass
- escova de dentes = toothbrush
So instead of using a noun like cutting before board, Portuguese often uses this de structure.
Why is the verb está used instead of é?
Portuguese has two main verbs for to be: ser and estar.
Here, está is used because cleanliness is seen as a state or condition, not a permanent characteristic.
- A tábua de corte está limpa. = The cutting board is clean.
(It is clean right now.)
If you used é limpa, it would sound more like a general characteristic, such as it is a clean board by nature or it tends to be clean, which is not the normal meaning here.
So for temporary conditions like:
- clean
- dirty
- open
- closed
- ready
Brazilian Portuguese often uses estar.
Why is it limpa and not limpo?
Because limpa agrees with tábua, which is a feminine singular noun.
In Portuguese, adjectives usually change to match the noun:
- o prato limpo = the clean plate
- a tábua limpa = the clean board
So:
- masculine singular: limpo
- feminine singular: limpa
- masculine plural: limpos
- feminine plural: limpas
Does the adjective usually come after the noun in Portuguese?
Yes, usually.
In this sentence:
- a tábua ... limpa
the adjective limpa comes after the noun phrase, which is very normal in Portuguese.
This is one of the most common patterns:
- a casa grande = the big house
- o carro novo = the new car
- a tábua limpa = the clean board
Sometimes adjectives can come before the noun, but that can sound more literary, emphatic, or change the nuance.
How do I pronounce tábua?
In Brazilian Portuguese, tábua is pronounced roughly like TAH-boo-ah, with the stress on the first syllable.
A helpful approximation is:
- tá = stressed, like TAH
- bua = quickly, like boo-ah
So the whole word sounds something like TAH-boo-ah.
The accent mark in tábua shows that the stress falls on tá.
What does the accent mark in tábua do?
The acute accent in tábua shows that the stressed syllable is tá.
Without getting too technical, it helps you know where the voice emphasis goes:
- tá-bua, not ta-BU-a
Accent marks in Portuguese can also sometimes affect vowel quality, but for learners, the most important thing here is: it tells you the stress.
Can I say A tábua está limpa without de corte?
Yes, if the context already makes it clear which board you mean.
- A tábua de corte está limpa. = The cutting board is clean.
- A tábua está limpa. = The board is clean.
If you are in the kitchen and everyone knows you mean the cutting board, dropping de corte is natural.
Can the article be omitted?
Usually, no—not in this kind of normal statement.
Brazilian Portuguese often uses definite articles where English does too, and sometimes even where English does not. Here, a sounds natural and expected:
- A tábua de corte está limpa.
Saying just Tábua de corte está limpa would sound unnatural in most ordinary situations.
Is Portuguese word order the same as English here?
Why is there no subject pronoun like ela?
Because Portuguese usually does not need an extra subject pronoun when the noun itself is already there.
The subject is already stated:
- A tábua de corte
So adding ela would usually be unnecessary:
- A tábua de corte está limpa. = normal
- Ela está limpa. = possible, but only if ela clearly refers back to the board
Portuguese often leaves pronouns out when the subject is obvious.
Could this sentence refer to a general fact, or only to the current situation?
With está limpa, it most naturally refers to the current condition:
- the cutting board is clean right now
It does not usually mean a permanent truth. If you are describing what you see in the kitchen at the moment, this is exactly the right choice.
So the sentence is best understood as a present-state sentence, not a timeless fact.
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