O noivo escolheu a aliança ontem à tarde.

O is the definite article meaning the.

• o noivo = the groom / the fiancé
• Portuguese usually uses articles more often than English does.

So O noivo is the natural way to say the groom or the fiancé.

Noivo means fiancé or groom, depending on context.

• noivo = male
• noiva = female

So this word can refer to:

• a man who is engaged to be married (fiancé)
• the groom in a wedding context (groom)

In this sentence, either interpretation may fit depending on the translation you were shown.

Escolheu is the third-person singular form of the verb escolher (to choose) in the pretérito perfeito (simple past / preterite).

• escolher = to choose
• ele escolheu = he chose

This tense is used for a completed action in the past.
So escolheu tells us that the choosing happened and is finished.

In this sentence:

• O noivo escolheu a aliança = The groom/fiancé chose the ring

Because escolheu and escolhia express different kinds of past action.

• escolheu = chose → one completed event
• escolhia = used to choose / was choosing → ongoing, repeated, or background action in the past

Since ontem à tarde points to a specific completed time, escolheu is the natural choice:

• O noivo escolheu a aliança ontem à tarde.
  = He chose the ring yesterday afternoon.

If you said escolhia, it would sound like the action was unfinished, habitual, or part of a larger scene.

Aliança often means wedding ring, wedding band, or sometimes engagement ring, depending on context.

In Brazilian Portuguese, aliança is strongly associated with a ring connected to a romantic commitment or marriage.

It can also mean alliance in other contexts, but here it clearly means a ring.

Because aliança is a feminine noun.

So it takes the feminine singular article a:

• a aliança = the ring
• uma aliança = a ring

This is a basic gender agreement rule in Portuguese:

• masculine singular: o
• feminine singular: a

Ontem à tarde means yesterday afternoon.

It is made of:

• ontem = yesterday
• à tarde = in the afternoon / in the afternoon time period

Together, they specify when the action happened.

The à in à tarde has a grave accent because it shows crase, a contraction of:

• a (a preposition)
• a (the feminine article)

So:

• a + a tarde → à tarde

In time expressions, this is very common:

• à tarde = in the afternoon
• à noite = at night / in the evening

This accent is not just pronunciation; it also shows a grammatical contraction.

Yes. Portuguese allows some flexibility in word order.

The original sentence is:

• O noivo escolheu a aliança ontem à tarde.

You could also say:

• Ontem à tarde, o noivo escolheu a aliança.

Both are natural. The difference is mostly one of focus:

• putting ontem à tarde at the end is neutral
• putting it first gives extra emphasis to the time

Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear, but that does not mean it always drops the whole subject noun.

Here, o noivo is a full noun phrase, not just a pronoun.

You could say:

• Escolheu a aliança ontem à tarde.
  = He chose the ring yesterday afternoon.

But that only works if the subject is already understood from context.

Using O noivo makes the sentence explicit and clear:

• The groom/fiancé chose the ring yesterday afternoon.

Usually, yes. Ontem à tarde is the most common and straightforward everyday way to say yesterday afternoon.

• ontem à tarde = very common, conversational, natural
• na tarde de ontem = also correct, but a bit more formal or narrative in tone

So for normal spoken Brazilian Portuguese, ontem à tarde is usually the best choice.

In Brazilian Portuguese, escolheu is pronounced approximately like:

• es-co-LYEW

A few helpful points:

• the stress falls on the last syllable: -lheu
• lh is a special sound, similar to the lli in million for many English speakers
• eu here sounds something like ew

So the word does not sound like a simple English l + h.
The lh is a single Portuguese sound.

Yes, two things often matter for learners:

1. ç

   • The ç is pronounced like s
   • So aliança sounds roughly like ah-lee-AN-sa

2. The stressed syllable

   • The stress is on an: aliANça

So it is not pronounced like English alliance, even though the words are related.

Possibly, yes, depending on context.

In Brazilian culture, aliança often refers to the symbolic ring of a couple, and sometimes people speak in the singular even when the broader idea involves the couple’s ring choice or style.

But grammatically, the sentence itself says a aliança = the ring / the band in the singular.
Without more context, the most direct reading is that he chose one ring.