Questions & Answers about A médica disse que a pressão está melhor agora.
Why is it a médica and not o médico?
What does disse que mean, and why is que there?
disse is the simple past of dizer (to say / to tell): (she) said.
que is the conjunction that, introducing what was said:
- A médica disse que... = The doctor said that...
In Portuguese, que is very commonly used after verbs of saying/thinking.
Why is disse in the past, but está is in the present?
Portuguese often uses the present tense in the reported clause when the information is still true “now.” Here:
- A médica disse... (she said it at some earlier moment)
- ...a pressão está melhor agora (the blood pressure is better now)
You could also hear estava if the speaker is focusing on the state at the time the doctor spoke, but está is natural when it’s true at the moment of speaking.
What exactly does a pressão refer to here?