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Questions & Answers about As crianças crescem rapidamente.
Why do we put the article As before crianças when in English we usually say “Children grow quickly” without “the”?
Portuguese typically uses the definite article with nouns to express general truths or generic statements. So we say As crianças crescem rapidamente. In informal speech you might hear Crianças crescem rapidamente, but the standard pattern includes as.
Why is crianças feminine plural, and can it refer to both boys and girls?
Criança is a feminine noun (ends in -a), and its plural adds -s: crianças. Even though it’s grammatically feminine, it refers to all children regardless of gender. If you need to specify gender, you’d use words like meninos (boys) or meninas (girls).
How is crescem formed, and why do we use this form?
Crescer means “to grow.” Crescem is the 3rd-person plural present indicative, agreeing with as crianças. Conjugation of a regular -er verb:
• eu cresço
• tu cresces
• ele/ela cresce
• nós crescemos
• vós cresceis
• eles/elas crescem
Why is the adverb rapidamente used instead of rápido?
Rápido is an adjective; to modify a verb you need an adverb. The correct adverb is formed by adding -mente to the feminine adjective rápida → rapidamente. Colloquially, people often say crescem rápido, but for formal or written Portuguese use rapidamente.
Where do we place the adverb in the sentence?
Adverbs in Portuguese usually follow the verb: crescem rapidamente. You can also place an adverb at the beginning for emphasis: Rapidamente, as crianças crescem., but post-verbal placement is the neutral, most common position.
How would you express “children are growing quickly” to stress the ongoing action?
Use the progressive form with estar + gerund:
As crianças estão crescendo rapidamente.
What does the tilde on ã in crianças indicate, and why doesn’t crescem have an accent?
The tilde on ã marks a nasal vowel ([kɾiˈɐ̃sɐs]). Crescem is a two-syllable (CRES-cem) paroxytone ending in -em, and per Portuguese accent rules it doesn’t need a written accent.
Is crescer in this sentence transitive or intransitive?
Here crescer is intransitive (“to grow” doesn’t take a direct object). You could see a transitive use in other contexts (“crescer um negócio” – “to grow a business”), but with children it’s intransitive.
How would I say “My children grow up fast”?
“My children” is Meus filhos (or Minhas filhas for daughters). For “grow up fast” you can choose colloquial or formal:
• Colloquial: Meus filhos crescem rápido.
• Formal/Written: Meus filhos crescem rapidamente.