Aos domingos, minha família gosta de fazer um churrasco no quintal.

Aos domingos means on Sundays or every Sunday / on Sundays in general.

In Brazilian Portuguese, aos + day in the plural is a very common way to talk about something that happens regularly:

• aos domingos = on Sundays
• aos sábados = on Saturdays
• às segundas-feiras = on Mondays

So this is not talking about one specific Sunday. It describes a habit.

Because aos helps mark a repeated time expression, similar to on in English.

• aos = contraction of a + os
• domingos = plural of domingo

Together, aos domingos literally looks like to the Sundays, but in real usage it means on Sundays / every Sunday.

You may also hear other time expressions without a preposition in Portuguese, but aos domingos is a very standard and natural expression for recurring actions.

It is plural because the sentence is talking about Sundays in general, not one Sunday.

Compare:

• No domingo = on Sunday / this Sunday / on a particular Sunday
• Aos domingos = on Sundays / every Sunday

So the plural shows a routine or repeated event.

The comma separates the time expression from the main part of the sentence.

• Aos domingos, minha família gosta de fazer um churrasco no quintal.

This is similar to English:

• On Sundays, my family likes to have a barbecue in the backyard.

The comma is very natural here because Aos domingos is an introductory phrase. In informal writing, some people may omit it, but using the comma is standard and clear.

Because família is grammatically singular in Portuguese.

Even though a family contains several people, the noun família is one singular group, so the verb stays singular:

• minha família gosta = my family likes

This is different from some cases in English where people may think of the group as plural. In Portuguese, with família, singular agreement is the normal choice.

The verb is gostar de, which means to like.

In Portuguese, gostar normally requires the preposition de before what is liked.

Examples:

• Eu gosto de café. = I like coffee.
• Ela gosta de viajar. = She likes traveling / to travel.
• Minha família gosta de fazer churrasco. = My family likes to barbecue / likes having barbecues.

So de is not optional here. It is part of how the verb works.

Because after gostar, Portuguese normally uses de + infinitive when the next idea is a verb.

So:

• gosta de fazer = likes to do / likes doing
• not gosta fazer

More examples:

• Eu gosto de cozinhar. = I like to cook.
• Eles gostam de nadar. = They like swimming / to swim.

This is a very important pattern to remember: gostar de + noun or gostar de + infinitive

Yes, literally fazer um churrasco means to make/do a barbecue, but in natural English it is usually translated as:

• to have a barbecue
• to barbecue
• to do a barbecue (less natural in English, but closer to the Portuguese structure)

In Brazilian Portuguese, churrasco is both the grilled meat itself and the social event/meal. So fazer um churrasco means to prepare and hold that kind of meal, often with family or friends.

Because churrasco here is being treated as a countable event or occasion:

• fazer um churrasco = have a barbecue

Just like in English, you can talk about a barbecue as one event.

Without um, the meaning would feel different or incomplete in this sentence. Um churrasco sounds natural because it refers to one barbecue gathering/meal.

No is a contraction of em + o:

• em = in / at / on
• o quintal = the backyard / the yard

So:

• em + o = no
• no quintal = in the backyard / in the yard

It is not na quintal because quintal is a masculine noun:

• o quintal
• therefore no quintal

If the noun were feminine, you would use na:

• na cozinha = in the kitchen

Not exactly.

• quintal usually means backyard, yard, or an outdoor area attached to the house
• jardim means garden

A quintal may or may not have plants or grass. It is the general outdoor home space, especially the kind of place where people might gather, grill, or hang out.

So no quintal is very natural with churrasco.

Yes. Portuguese allows some flexibility.

Original:

• Aos domingos, minha família gosta de fazer um churrasco no quintal.

Other possible orders:

• Minha família gosta de fazer um churrasco no quintal aos domingos.
• No quintal, minha família gosta de fazer um churrasco aos domingos.

The original version sounds very natural because it starts with the habitual time expression. That puts emphasis on when this usually happens.

Yes, very much. Churrasco is strongly associated with Brazilian culture, especially social gatherings with grilled meat, family, and friends.

So for learners, this sentence is useful not only grammatically but culturally too. A Brazilian listener would immediately understand this as a familiar family activity, not just a literal act of grilling food.

Yes, but it means something different.

• Minha família gosta de churrasco. = My family likes barbecue.
• Minha família gosta de fazer um churrasco. = My family likes to have/hold a barbecue.

The first sentence is about liking barbecue as food or as a general thing. The second is about enjoying the activity/event of having a barbecue.

So the original sentence is more specific and vivid.