Word
Ana prefere peixe, mas a filha dela gosta mais de frango.
Meaning
Ana prefers fish, but her daughter likes chicken more.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Breakdown of Ana prefere peixe, mas a filha dela gosta mais de frango.
Ana
Ana
gostar de
to like
mas
but
preferir
to prefer
Questions & Answers about Ana prefere peixe, mas a filha dela gosta mais de frango.
Why is prefere used here, and what verb does it come from?
Prefere comes from the verb preferir, which means to prefer.
In this sentence:
- Ana prefere peixe = Ana prefers fish
Preferir is an -ir verb, and prefere is the third person singular form in the present tense, used for ele/ela/você.
A quick mini-conjugation:
- eu prefiro
- você/ele/ela prefere
- nós preferimos
- vocês/eles/elas preferem
So Ana prefere is used because Ana is she.
Why is there no article before peixe or frango?
In Portuguese, when talking about food in a general sense, it is very common to use the noun without an article.
So:
- Ana prefere peixe = Ana prefers fish
- gosta mais de frango = likes chicken more / likes chicken better
This sounds natural when you mean the food generally, not a specific fish or a specific chicken dish.
You could sometimes hear articles in other contexts, but in a basic statement of preference, leaving them out is very normal.
What does mas mean, and is it the same as Spanish ?