A polícia investigou o roubo e recuperou o pertence.

In Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article with nouns, especially when talking about a specific institution or entity already understood from context.

So a polícia means the police.

In English, we often say just police without an article, but in Portuguese a polícia sounds natural and standard.

It is singular.

Even though the police in English is treated as plural in many situations, a polícia in Portuguese is a singular feminine noun. That is why the verbs are also singular:

• investigou
• recuperou

Both mean it investigated / it recovered, with a polícia as the subject.

Because polícia is a feminine noun in Portuguese, so it takes the feminine article a.

You simply have to learn the gender of the noun:

• a polícia
• not o polícia in this meaning

This grammatical gender does not mean the police force is female; it is just how the noun works in Portuguese.

They are in the preterite tense, which is used for completed actions in the past.

So:

• investigou = investigated
• recuperou = recovered

These forms are third person singular of the verbs:

• investigar → investigou
• recuperar → recuperou

Because both verbs are -ar verbs in the preterite, third person singular.

For regular -ar verbs, this form usually ends in -ou:

• falar → falou
• investigar → investigou
• recuperar → recuperou

So this ending is a very useful pattern to recognize.

Because Portuguese often omits the subject when it is already clear.

In this sentence, a polícia is the subject for both verbs:

• A polícia investigou o roubo
• [A polícia] recuperou o pertence

Portuguese does not need to repeat the subject if it is obvious from the context.

Again, Portuguese often uses the definite article where English may or may not use one.

So o roubo means the robbery or the theft, referring to a specific crime being investigated.

Using o makes it sound like a particular event, not robbery in general.

Roubo usually means robbery. In legal or precise usage, it normally implies theft involving force, threat, or violence.

A related word is furto, which is usually theft without confrontation or violence.

In everyday speech, though, people do not always use the distinction perfectly, so context matters.

Here, pertence is a noun, meaning belonging or personal item.

So o pertence means something like:

• the belonging
• the personal belonging
• the item

However, this is not the most common way to say it in everyday Brazilian Portuguese.

It is understandable, but it sounds a bit unusual or formal in this sentence.

Brazilian Portuguese more often uses:

• o objeto roubado = the stolen object
• o item roubado = the stolen item
• o bem roubado = the stolen property/item
• os pertences = the belongings

So while recuperou o pertence is grammatical, many native speakers would probably prefer a different wording.

Because pertence, as a noun, is masculine.

So it takes:

• o pertence

This is just the grammatical gender of the noun.

Yes. That is an important thing to notice.

Pertence can also be the verb form of pertencer:

• ele/ela pertence = he/she/it belongs

But in your sentence, it is clearly a noun because it comes after the article o:

• o pertence

The article tells you it is functioning as a noun here.

Because recuperar normally takes a direct object.

So:

• recuperou o pertence

There is no need for a preposition like de or para here.

This is similar to English recovered the item.

Not very naturally.

A word-for-word version would be:

• The police investigated the robbery and recovered the belonging.

That is understandable, but natural English would usually be something like:

• The police investigated the robbery and recovered the stolen item.
• The police investigated the robbery and recovered the victim’s belongings.

This is a good reminder that Portuguese and English often package ideas differently.

Yes. It follows a very common Portuguese pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object + and + Verb + Object

So:

• A polícia = subject
• investigou o roubo = verb + object
• e recuperou o pertence = second verb + object

This is straightforward, neutral word order in Portuguese.