O dependente tem uma despesa médica.

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So O dependente = the dependent.

In Portuguese, nouns usually need an article more often than in English, especially in simple statements like this. So starting with O sounds natural.

If the dependent were female, you would normally say A dependente.

Dependente is a noun that can refer to either a male or a female dependent. The form of the noun itself usually stays the same, and the article shows the gender:

• o dependente = the male dependent
• a dependente = the female dependent

This is common in Portuguese with some nouns referring to people.

Tem means has here. It comes from the verb ter, which means to have.

This is the third person singular form:

• eu tenho = I have
• você/ele/ela tem = you/he/she has

So O dependente tem... literally means The dependent has...

Uma means a/an.

So:

• uma despesa médica = a medical expense

You could sometimes omit the article in certain contexts, but in a normal standalone sentence, uma despesa sounds natural and complete.

Compare:

• Tem uma despesa médica. = He/She has a medical expense.
• Tem despesa médica. = He/She has medical expenses / has medical-expense-related costs, depending on context

The version with uma points to one expense, or at least presents it as a countable item.

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• despesa médica = medical expense
• literally: expense medical

This noun + adjective order is the normal pattern in Portuguese.

Because médica is agreeing with despesa, and despesa is a feminine singular noun.

In Portuguese, adjectives usually agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

So:

• despesa médica = feminine singular
• despesas médicas = feminine plural

Even though médico/médica can also mean doctor as a noun, here it is an adjective meaning medical.

All of them can relate to spending or cost, but they are not always identical.

• despesa = expense, expenditure
• gasto = spending, expense, amount spent
• custo = cost

In this sentence, despesa médica is a very natural way to say medical expense.

A few rough distinctions:

• despesa often sounds a bit more formal or accounting-related
• gasto is very common in everyday speech
• custo focuses more on what something costs

So uma despesa médica is a good, standard phrase.

Yes, very often.

In Brazilian Portuguese, dependente is commonly used in contexts like:

• health insurance
• taxes
• employee benefits
• family registration forms

It usually refers to a person who is officially linked to someone else for support or coverage, such as a child or spouse.

So this sentence sounds especially natural in administrative, financial, or medical paperwork.

Médica is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable: MEH-jee-ka or MEH-dee-ka, depending on accent and speaker.

The written accent in é shows that the stressed syllable is mé.

Without the accent, the word would not follow the same pronunciation pattern. So the accent helps mark the correct stress.

The whole phrase despesa médica is pronounced approximately like:

des-PEH-zah MEH-jee-kah

Brazilian pronunciation varies by region, but the stress pattern stays the same.

Yes. If you want to say The dependent has medical expenses, you could say:

O dependente tem despesas médicas.

Notice the changes:

• despesa → despesas
• médica → médicas

Both the noun and adjective become plural.

So:

• uma despesa médica = one medical expense
• despesas médicas = medical expenses

Yes, grammatically you could. Possui comes from possuir, which can also mean to have/possess.

But in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, ter is much more common and natural for this kind of sentence.

So:

• O dependente tem uma despesa médica. = most natural
• O dependente possui uma despesa médica. = more formal or bureaucratic

In normal speech, tem is usually the better choice.