Use a chave para fechar a porta.

Use the key to close the door.

Breakdown of Use a chave para fechar a porta.

• a porta: the door
• usar: to use
• a chave: the key
• para: for
• fechar: to close

Questions & Answers about Use a chave para fechar a porta.

Why is the article a used before chave?

In Portuguese, chave is a feminine noun, so the feminine article a is used. Unlike English, which uses the for both masculine and feminine nouns, Portuguese makes this distinction with o (masculine) and a (feminine).

What form of the verb is Use, and why is it spelled this way?

Use is the formal imperative (command form) of the verb usar addressed to você (or an implied o senhor / a senhora). In everyday spoken Brazilian Portuguese, you might hear people say Usa (informal imperative), but grammatically Use is correct and more polite.

Why do we say para fechar instead of para fechar a?

Para here introduces the purpose of using the key — to close (the door). The a is already used for the door (feminine object), so you don’t repeat it before fechar. If you put a before fechar, it would imply “to close it,” but here the sentence structure is simply using para + infinitive (fechar) without a direct object pronoun.

What is the difference between fechar and trancar?

Fechar means to close, which can apply to anything with a door or opening. Trancar means to lock, emphasizing that you are securing the door with a key or a lock. In this sentence, the emphasis is on closing the door using the key, though in everyday speech, people might say trancar if they specifically mean “lock” it.