Depois da prova, a escola envia as notas dos alunos para os pais.

In Portuguese, you usually use a definite article when you mean a specific event: “depois da prova” = after the (specific) test/exam.

• depois de + a prova → depois da prova (contraction)
  If you said “depois de prova”, it would sound incomplete or wrong in this context, a bit like saying “after test” instead of “after the test” in English.

You could also say “depois da prova de matemática” (“after the math test”), still with the article.

In this sentence, “prova” means a test/exam in a school context.

• prova = test/exam
• prova can also mean proof/evidence in other contexts, but school-related “prova” is almost always “test” or “exam.”

So: “Depois da prova…” = “After the exam/test…”

The subject is “a escola” (singular: the school), so the verb must also be singular: “envia”.

• a escola envia = the school sends
• as escolas enviam = the schools send

Even though a school is made up of many people, grammatically it is one unit, so you use the singular form.

The simple present “envia” in Portuguese usually expresses:

• habitual actions: something that generally happens
• scheduled/regular actions

So “a escola envia as notas…” naturally means “the school sends the grades…” (as a usual procedure, whenever there’s a test).

If you specifically wanted “is sending right now,” you might say “está enviando” (“is sending”), but it’s not necessary here.

The article “as” makes it definite: “as notas dos alunos” = the students’ grades (the specific ones from that test).

In many contexts, Portuguese tends to use definite articles more often than English. Dropping the article (“notas dos alunos”) is possible in some phrases or titles, but in a full sentence like this it would sound odd or incomplete.

Natural version: “a escola envia as notas dos alunos…”.

Here “notas” means “grades/marks”—the scores students receive on tests and schoolwork.

• notas = grades/marks
• anotações = written notes (like what you write in a notebook)

So you wouldn’t say “notas de aula” for class notes; you’d say “anotações de aula”.

“dos alunos” = “de + os alunos” → of the students / the students’.

Portuguese contracts certain prepositions with articles:

• de + os → dos
• de + o → do
• de + a → da

So “as notas dos alunos” literally is the grades of the students, which is how Portuguese usually expresses possession.

You could, but it would change the nuance and might be ambiguous.

• as notas dos alunos = the students’ grades (clear who they belong to)
• as suas notas = your/their grades (the owner depends on context, and “suas” can refer to your, his, her, their)

In a sentence talking about the school and the parents, “dos alunos” clearly says the students’ grades and avoids ambiguity.

Both are grammatically possible:

• para os pais (more common in everyday Brazilian Portuguese)
• aos pais = a + os pais (sounds a bit more formal / written)

In Brazil, “para” is very widely used for “to/for” with an idea of destination or recipient. So “envia as notas dos alunos para os pais” sounds completely natural.

Yes, in informal spoken Brazilian Portuguese, people very often say “pra” instead of “para”:

• “…envia as notas dos alunos pra os pais”
• Usually in speech this becomes “pros pais”: pra + os pais → pros pais

However, in standard writing, you should prefer “para os pais.”

In this sentence, “pais” (without an accent) means “parents”.

Be careful with the accent:

• pais = parents
• país = country (singular)
• países = countries

So “para os pais” = to the parents.

You normally need the article here: “para os pais” = to the parents.

Saying “para pais” (without “os”) would sound strange and very unnatural in this sentence, like saying “to parents” with no determiner in English. Portuguese tends to keep the article in places where English might omit it.

You can move the time phrase around without changing the meaning:

• Depois da prova, a escola envia as notas dos alunos para os pais.
• A escola envia as notas dos alunos para os pais depois da prova.

Both are correct. Putting “Depois da prova” at the beginning and separating it with a comma is very common and sounds natural.

“Depois da prova” is an introductory time expression (an adverbial phrase). In Portuguese, when you place such a phrase at the beginning of the sentence, you usually separate it with a comma:

• Depois da prova, a escola envia…

If you move it to the end (“…para os pais depois da prova.”), you usually don’t need a comma.

You see the gender through the articles/adjectives:

• a prova → feminine (singular)
• a escola → feminine (singular)
• as notas → feminine (plural)
• os alunos → masculine (plural)
• os pais → masculine (plural)

In general, nouns ending in -a are often feminine (prova, escola, nota), and those ending in -o often masculine (aluno), but there are many exceptions. The safest way is to learn each noun with its article (a/uma, o/um).