Word
O espírito está tranquilo.
Meaning
The spirit is calm.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
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Questions & Answers about O espírito está tranquilo.
Why is there an o at the beginning?
O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.
So o espírito = the spirit.
In Portuguese, articles are used very naturally and often more regularly than in English. In this sentence, o tells you we are talking about a specific spirit, or about the spirit as a known idea in context.
- o = masculine singular
- a = feminine singular
- os = masculine plural
- as = feminine plural
Because espírito is masculine singular, it takes o.
How do I know espírito is masculine?
You usually learn the noun together with its article: o espírito.
Even though many nouns ending in -o are masculine, the safest habit is to memorize nouns with the article, because endings do not always guarantee gender in Portuguese.
Here:
- o espírito = masculine
- so adjectives that describe it also need to be masculine singular
That is why the sentence says tranquilo, not tranquila.
Why is it tranquilo and not tranquila?