A esposa contactou a 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.

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.

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.

Because contactar is an -ar verb, and the regular 3rd person singular ending in this past tense is -ou.

For example:

• falar → falou
• trabalhar → trabalhou
• contactar → contactou

So once you know the pattern for regular -ar verbs, contactou is easy to recognise.

Because contactar takes a direct object.

So you say:

• contactar a empresa

Not:

• contactar à empresa

Different verbs work differently. For example:

• contactar a empresa
• telefonar à empresa
• falar com a empresa

This is something you usually have to learn verb by verb.

Yes. Contactar is standard and very common in Portugal, especially in neutral, professional, or business contexts.

You may also hear:

• entrar em contacto com a empresa

That sounds a bit more formal or more descriptive, but contactar is perfectly normal and natural.

Esposa clearly means wife and is a straightforward, neutral choice.

Mulher can also mean wife in the right context, but it also means woman, so it can be less precise.

So:

• esposa = clearly wife
• mulher = woman, and sometimes wife depending on context

If you want to avoid ambiguity, esposa is very clear.

No. A esposa is fine if the context already makes it clear whose wife you mean.

Portuguese often leaves out a possessive when it is obvious from the situation. If you need to specify, you can say:

• a sua esposa
• a esposa dele
• a esposa dela

In European Portuguese, forms like dele and dela are often used to avoid ambiguity.

Sometimes, yes.

Portuguese often omits the subject when it is already understood from context. So Contactou a empresa can be a complete sentence if everyone already knows who did it.

However, contactou by itself only tells you it was a 3rd person singular subject, so without context it is unclear who that person is. Keeping A esposa makes the sentence fully clear.

Yes. This is the basic and most neutral Portuguese word order:

subject + verb + object

So:

• A esposa = subject
• contactou = verb
• a empresa = object

Portuguese can change word order for emphasis or style, but this sentence uses the standard pattern.

That is mainly a Portugal vs Brazil difference.

In European Portuguese, the standard form is:

• contactar
• contactou

In Brazilian Portuguese, you will often see:

• contatar
• contatou

So if you are learning Portuguese from Portugal, contactar and contactou are the forms to use.

A rough guide is con-tac-TOU, with the stress on the last syllable.

A few useful points for European Portuguese:

• the stressed syllable is tou
• unstressed vowels are weaker than in English
• the final ou is often closer to a long o sound than to a strong English ow

A rough guide for empresa is em-PRE-zuh, with the stress on pre.