A esposa contactou a empresa.

The wife contacted the company.

Breakdown of A esposa contactou a empresa.

• o: the
• a empresa: the company
• contactar: to contact
• a esposa: the wife

Questions & Answers about A esposa contactou a empresa.

Why is there a before both esposa and empresa?

Because a is the feminine singular definite article, equivalent to the. Both esposa and empresa are feminine nouns, so they take a.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English, so a esposa and a empresa sound completely natural.

How do I know that esposa and empresa are feminine?

The article already tells you: a marks a feminine singular noun.

Also, both words are feminine in Portuguese:

• a esposa = wife
• a empresa = company

The ending -a often suggests a feminine noun, but not always, so it is best to learn the noun together with its article.

What tense is contactou?

Contactou is the 3rd person singular of contactar in the pretérito perfeito simples.

In practice, this is the normal past tense for a completed action:

• A esposa contactou a empresa = the action happened and is finished

If the meaning were habitual or ongoing in the past, you would expect a different form, such as contactava.