A criança quebrou a xícara sem querer.

the child

Breakdown of A criança quebrou a xícara sem querer.

• quebrar: to break
• a xícara: the cup
• sem querer: without meaning to

Questions & Answers about A criança quebrou a xícara sem querer.

Why does the sentence start with A criança instead of just criança?

In Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article before nouns, especially when talking about a specific person or thing.

So A criança means the child.

If you said just criança, it would sound less complete here. In a full sentence like this, Portuguese normally wants the article:

• A criança quebrou a xícara. = The child broke the cup.

Does criança mean a boy or a girl?

Criança can refer to either a boy or a girl. It means child in a general sense.

Even though criança is grammatically feminine, that does not mean the child must be female. Portuguese grammatical gender and real-life gender are not always the same thing.

So:

• A criança = the child
  and it could be a boy or a girl.

If you later describe the child with an adjective or pronoun, speakers may sometimes choose forms based on the actual child, depending on context.

Why is it A criança if the child could be male?

Because criança is a feminine noun grammatically. In Portuguese, nouns have grammatical gender, and articles must agree with the noun.

So we say:

• a criança
• not o criança

This is true even when the child is male.

What tense is ?