A lei é importante.

The law is important.

Breakdown of A lei é importante.

• ser: to be
• importante: important
• a lei: the law

Questions & Answers about A lei é importante.

Why does the sentence start with a?

Here, a is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

So a lei = the law.

In Portuguese, articles are used very often, including in general statements. That is why Portuguese says A lei é importante where English says The law is important.

Why is it a lei and not just lei?

Because Portuguese usually prefers an article before a noun when speaking about something specific or about a whole category in a general way.

So:

• A lei é importante = The law is important
• Lei é importante sounds less natural in most everyday contexts

Dropping the article is possible in some special cases, but for a basic general statement like this, a lei is the normal choice.

Is lei masculine or feminine? How do I know?

Lei is feminine, which is why it takes a, not o.

You normally learn the gender of each noun together with its article:

• a lei = the law
• not o lei

Unfortunately, noun gender is not always predictable from the ending. Even though many feminine nouns end in -a, lei is feminine even though it does not.

A good habit is to memorize nouns with their articles:

• a lei
• o livro
• a casa