A cooperativa vai reciclar o metal.

A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a cooperativa = the cooperative

Portuguese nouns usually need an article more often than English nouns do, so A cooperativa sounds natural here.

Because cooperativa is a feminine noun in Portuguese.

In Portuguese, nouns have grammatical gender, and the article must match:

• o = masculine singular
• a = feminine singular

So:

• a cooperativa
• not o cooperativa

Vai reciclar is a very common way to talk about the future in Brazilian Portuguese.

It uses:

• ir in the present tense + infinitive

So:

• vai = goes / is going
• reciclar = to recycle

Together, vai reciclar means is going to recycle / will recycle.

This is extremely common in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, often more common in speech than the simple future form:

• A cooperativa vai reciclar o metal.
• A cooperativa reciclará o metal.

Both are correct, but vai reciclar sounds more natural in everyday conversation.

Because vai matches the subject a cooperativa, which is third-person singular.

The verb ir changes depending on the subject:

• eu vou = I go / I am going
• você / ele / ela vai = you / he / she goes
• nós vamos = we go
• eles / elas vão = they go

Since a cooperativa is a singular noun, you use vai.

The structure is:

• Subject + vai + infinitive + object

In this sentence:

• A cooperativa = subject
• vai reciclar = future action
• o metal = object

So Portuguese is following a very familiar word order here, similar to English: The cooperative is going to recycle the metal.

O means the, so o metal = the metal.

Portuguese often uses definite articles where English might or might not use them. In this sentence, o metal refers to a specific metal or a particular batch/type of metal in context.

So:

• o metal = the metal

If you removed the article, it would sound less natural in many contexts.

Not exactly because of the -l, but metal is indeed a masculine noun:

• o metal

Portuguese noun gender is not always predictable just from the ending, so it is best to learn each noun with its article:

• o metal
• a cooperativa

That helps you remember gender naturally.

In Brazilian Portuguese, cooperativa is pronounced with two separate o sounds in co-o, not like one long English sound.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• cooperativa ≈ koh-oh-peh-RA-chee-vah or koh-oh-peh-RA-tee-vah

The exact pronunciation of ti can vary by region:

• in many parts of Brazil, ti sounds like chee
• in other areas, it may sound more like tee

The stress is on:

• ti in cooperativa? Actually no — the stress is on ti/ti-va?
  More accurately: co-o-pe-ra-TI-va

So the stressed syllable is:

• TI

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• reciclar ≈ heh-see-KLAR or reh-see-KLAR, depending on accent

A few notes:

• the final r in Brazilian Portuguese is often pronounced like an English h sound in many accents
• the stress is on the last syllable: clar

So the strongest part is:

• re-ci-CLAR

Yes. In many contexts, vai reciclar can be translated either way in English.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• is going to recycle
• will recycle

Portuguese does not always make the same distinction English does between those two future expressions.

Yes. That is the simple future tense.

So you have two correct versions:

• A cooperativa vai reciclar o metal.
• A cooperativa reciclará o metal.

The difference is mostly one of style and frequency:

• vai reciclar = very common, especially in spoken Brazilian Portuguese
• reciclará = correct, but more formal or less common in everyday speech

You add não before vai:

• A cooperativa não vai reciclar o metal.

That means:

• The cooperative is not going to recycle the metal.

The pattern is:

• subject + não + vai + infinitive

In Brazilian Portuguese, you can often make a yes/no question just by using question intonation in speech or a question mark in writing:

• A cooperativa vai reciclar o metal?

The word order usually stays the same.

So unlike English, you do not need to add something like does or invert the subject and verb.

No. The noun a cooperativa is already the subject, so a pronoun is unnecessary.

Portuguese often omits subject pronouns when the subject is clear. Here it is very clear because the sentence already names the subject:

• A cooperativa vai reciclar o metal.

You could say Ela vai reciclar o metal if the cooperative had already been mentioned earlier, but in this sentence the noun itself is enough.

Yes, it is a close equivalent. It usually refers to an organization owned and run jointly by its members, such as an agricultural, housing, or recycling cooperative.

In everyday use, it can sometimes feel similar to co-op in English, depending on context.

Yes, reciclar is a regular -ar verb.

That means it follows the normal pattern for -ar verbs. For example:

• eu reciclo = I recycle
• você recicla = you recycle
• nós reciclamos = we recycle

In this sentence, though, it stays in the infinitive because it comes after vai:

• vai reciclar

Yes, it can, depending on context.

Even though o metal literally looks like the metal, Portuguese often uses the definite article in places where English might use a more general expression.

So in context, o metal could mean:

• a specific metal already mentioned, or
• metal as the material being handled by the cooperative

Context tells you which meaning is intended.