Breakdown of O carregador foi trocado pela técnica.
pela
by
ser trocado
to be replaced (swapped out)
o carregador
the charger
a técnica
the technician
Questions & Answers about O carregador foi trocado pela técnica.
Why does the sentence use foi trocado? What tense/structure is that?
Foi trocado is the passive voice in the simple past (pretérito perfeito):
- foi = past of ser (to be)
- trocado = past participle of trocar (to replace/swap)
So the structure is: ser (past) + past participle = was replaced.
How is this different from using estar (e.g., estava trocado)?
In Portuguese, ser + participle is the normal way to form a true passive (focus on the action/event):
- O carregador foi trocado... = The charger was replaced (someone replaced it).
estar + participle usually describes a resulting state/condition, not the replacement event itself:
- O carregador está trocado often sounds like the charger is (already) replaced/swapped (state), and can even sound odd depending on context.
Why does trocado end in -o? Could it be trocada?