Word
A menina caiu na areia, mas não chorou e pegou a pá de novo.
Meaning
The girl fell in the sand, but she did not cry and picked up the shovel again.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Questions & Answers about A menina caiu na areia, mas não chorou e pegou a pá de novo.
Why is it a menina and not just menina?
In Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article before nouns, where English often would not.
- a menina = the girl
- menina by itself = girl in a more general or dictionary-like sense
So A menina caiu... is the natural way to say The girl fell...
Also, a is feminine singular, matching menina, which is a feminine singular noun.
What tense are caiu, chorou, and pegou?
They are all in the preterite tense, which is commonly used in Brazilian Portuguese for completed actions in the past.
- caiu = fell
- chorou = cried
- pegou = took / picked up
- não chorou = did not cry
This tense is used because the sentence describes a sequence of finished events.
Why is it caiu and not caíu?