O estudante vai estudar português na casa dele.

house

Breakdown of O estudante vai estudar português na casa dele.

• português: Portuguese
• estudar: to study
• ir: to go

Questions & Answers about O estudante vai estudar português na casa dele.

Why is it o estudante and not just estudante?

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• o estudante = the student
• um estudante = a student
• estudante by itself can sometimes appear in headlines, labels, or more general contexts, but in a normal sentence you usually use an article when you mean a specific person.

A useful detail: estudante is a noun that can refer to either a male or female student, and the article tells you the gender here:

• o estudante = the male student
• a estudante = the female student

Why do we have vai estudar? Why are there two verbs?

This is a very common Portuguese structure:

• ir + infinitive = to be going to do something

So:

• vai estudar = is going to study

Here:

• vai is the present tense of ir (to go)
• estudar is the infinitive (to study)

This structure is one of the main ways to talk about the near future in Brazilian Portuguese.

Examples:

• Eu vou estudar. = I’m going to study.
• Ela vai trabalhar. = She’s going to work.
• Nós vamos sair. = We’re going to leave/go out.

Could this sentence also mean The student is going to study Portuguese or only is going to go study Portuguese?