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As crianças cantam na sala de aula.

As crianças cantam na sala de aula.
The children sing in the classroom.
FromLesson 8inHardcore Portuguese (Brazil)

Breakdown of As crianças cantam na sala de aula.

na
in
a criança
the child
cantar
to sing
a sala de aula
the classroom
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Questions & Answers about As crianças cantam na sala de aula.

What does as mean in As crianças?
As is the feminine plural definite article in Portuguese—equivalent to “the” for feminine nouns. Since crianças is plural and feminine, we use as.
Why do we say As crianças instead of Os crianças or no article at all?
  1. Criança is a feminine noun (“child”). Its plural takes the feminine article as, not os.
  2. Portuguese generally requires a definite article before nouns when you talk about them in general or in a specific context, whereas English often omits “the.”
What is na in na sala de aula?
Na is the contraction of the preposition em (“in”) + the feminine singular article a (“the”). So na literally means “in the” before a feminine noun.
Why is it na sala de aula and not no sala de aula?
Because sala (“room”) is feminine, we use a after em, giving em + a = na. If it were a masculine noun, you’d use no (from em + o).
Why do we say sala de aula instead of one word like “classroom”?
Portuguese forms this concept as a compound of sala (“room”) + de (“of”) + aula (“class, lesson”). There isn’t a single native word for “classroom,” so you literally say “room of class.”
What does cantam mean and how is it formed?
Cantam is the third-person plural of cantar in the present indicative. It means “they sing.” The ending -am tells you the subject is “they.”
Could I say As crianças estão cantando na sala de aula instead?
Yes. Brazilian Portuguese often uses the simple present (cantam) for ongoing actions, but you can use the present continuous (estão cantando) to emphasize that the singing is happening right now.
Is the word order fixed? Could I start with the verb, as in Cantam as crianças na sala de aula?
Portuguese is relatively flexible. You can invert to Cantam as crianças na sala de aula for stylistic effect or emphasis, but the neutral, most common order is Subject–Verb–Complement (As crianças cantam …).