A peça começou atrasada, mas os atores no palco eram muito engraçados.

The play started late, but the actors on stage were very funny.

Breakdown of A peça começou atrasada, mas os atores no palco eram muito engraçados.

• ser: to be
• muito: very
• mas: but
• começar: to start
• no: on the
• atrasado: late
• engraçado: funny
• a peça: the play
• o ator: the actor
• o palco: the stage

Questions & Answers about A peça começou atrasada, mas os atores no palco eram muito engraçados.

Why is it a peça and not o peça?

Because peça is a feminine noun in Portuguese, so it takes the feminine article a.

• a peça = the play (theatrical play)
• o is the masculine singular article, used with masculine nouns (e.g. o filme, o show).

There’s no strict rule that will always tell you the gender; many nouns ending in -a are feminine (like peça, casa, mesa), but you mostly have to learn each noun’s gender with the word itself: a peça, a cidade, o problema, etc.

Why is começou used here, and what tense is it?

Começou is the third-person singular of começar in the pretérito perfeito (simple past), used for completed actions in the past.

• (A peça) começou atrasada = The play started late (a single, completed event).
• Infinitive: começar
• Eu comecei, você/ele/ela começou, nós começamos, etc.

You would not use começava here, because começava (imperfect) suggests an ongoing or repeated past action, not a single, completed start.

Why is there a ç in começou and not just comecou?

In começar, the c before e has an /s/ sound. To keep that same /s/ sound before o, Portuguese changes c to ç:

• começar → começou
• Pronunciation: co-me-SÔU (stress on the last syllable).

If you wrote comecou, it would sound like /k/ before o (like “coh-me-koh”), which is wrong. The ç preserves the soft s sound.

Why is it começou atrasada and not começou tarde? Do they mean the same thing?

Both are possible, but they are slightly different:

• começou atrasada = literally “started delayed/late.”
  You’re saying the event itself was behind schedule.
• começou tarde = “started late (in the day / at a late hour).”
  Focus on how late the time was.

In everyday speech, começar atrasado/atrasada is the common way to say an event didn’t start on time, compared to some expected schedule.

Why is atrasada feminine and singular here?

Atrasada agrees with a peça, which is feminine singular:

• a peça → atrasada
• If it were a masculine singular noun: o show começou atrasado
• Plural feminine: as peças começaram atrasadas
• Plural masculine: os eventos começaram atrasados

In Portuguese, adjectives normally agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to.

What does mas do here, and why is there a comma before it?

Mas is the conjunction but. It introduces a contrast:

• A peça começou atrasada, mas os atores…
  “The play started late, but the actors…”

The comma before mas is standard: you usually separate clauses with mas by a comma, just like in English with but in many cases:

• Ele estava cansado, mas continuou trabalhando.
  He was tired, but he kept working.

What does no palco mean exactly, and why no instead of em o?

No palco means on the stage or onstage.

• em + o (in/on + the) contracts to no:
  • em + o → no (masculine singular)
  • em + a → na (feminine singular)
  • em + os → nos
  • em + as → nas

So:

• no palco = on the stage
• na mesa = on the table
• nos teatros = in the theaters

Does no palco describe the actors or the action? Could I move it?

In this sentence, no palco describes where the actors were:

• os atores no palco = the actors (who were) on the stage

You can move it and the meaning stays almost the same:

• …mas os atores eram muito engraçados no palco.
• …mas no palco os atores eram muito engraçados.

In all of these, the idea is that their being funny is connected to them being on stage (as performers).

Why is it eram and not foram for “were”?

Both eram and foram are past forms of ser (“to be”), but they are different tenses:

• eram = imperfect (pretérito imperfeito)
  Used for descriptions, background states, or ongoing characteristics in the past.
• foram = simple past / preterite (pretérito perfeito)
  Used for completed events or changes.

Here we’re describing how the actors were during that period (the play):

• os atores… eram muito engraçados → they were (characteristically) very funny.

If you said foram muito engraçados, it would sound more like: “they turned out to be very funny / they were funny that time” as a more bounded event. It’s possible, but eram is more natural as a description.

Why is it muito engraçados and not muitos engraçados?

Because muito here is an adverb modifying the adjective engraçados, meaning “very”:

• muito engraçados = very funny

When muito is an adverb before an adjective or another adverb, it does not change form:

• muito engraçado / muito engraçada / muito engraçados / muito engraçadas
• muito bom, muito boas, muito bem

When muito is an adjective meaning “many/much”, it agrees:

• muitos atores = many actors
• muitas peças = many plays
• muito trabalho = much work (singular, so no -s)

Why does engraçados end in -os?

Engraçados agrees with os atores, which is masculine plural:

• o ator engraçado (masc. sing.)
• os atores engraçados (masc. plural)
• a atriz engraçada (fem. sing.)
• as atrizes engraçadas (fem. plural)

So:

• article os (masculine plural)
• noun atores (masculine plural)
• adjective engraçados (masculine plural)

They all match in gender and number.

Can I change the word order to mas os atores eram muito engraçados no palco? Is that different?

Yes, that word order is completely natural:

• …mas os atores no palco eram muito engraçados.
• …mas os atores eram muito engraçados no palco.

Both are acceptable.
Nuance:

• os atores no palco eram… slightly highlights the subset of actors who were on the stage.
• os atores eram… no palco sounds more like “the actors were very funny when they were on stage.”

In everyday conversation, both will usually be understood the same way.