A cozedura demora oito horas.

Cozedura is a noun. It refers to the cooking process or cooking stage.

It comes from the verb cozer. Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• cooking
• boiling
• baking
• the cooking process

So here it means the process of cooking takes eight hours.

Because cozedura is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine singular article a.

A useful pattern is that many Portuguese nouns ending in -ura are feminine, for example:

• a temperatura
• a abertura
• a cozedura

So a cozedura is the correct form.

In Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article with nouns like this, especially when talking about a specific process or a known category.

So A cozedura demora oito horas sounds natural.

Without the article, Cozedura demora oito horas, it sounds unnatural in normal speech.

English often says things like Cooking takes eight hours without an article, but Portuguese usually prefers the article here.

It is understandable and correct, but it can sound a bit technical, formal, or recipe-like, depending on context.

In everyday speech, people might also say things like:

• Isto demora oito horas a cozer.
• Isto leva oito horas a cozinhar.
• O tempo de cozedura é de oito horas.

So cozedura is a real and useful word, but it is not always the most casual choice.

Because the verb demorar can be used to talk about how much time something takes.

So:

• A cozedura demora oito horas = The cooking takes eight hours

This is a very common structure:

• A viagem demora duas horas = The trip takes two hours
• O trabalho demora muito tempo = The work takes a long time

So demorar often corresponds to English to take when talking about duration.

Because the subject is A cozedura, which is singular.

• A cozedura = singular
• therefore demora = 3rd person singular

If the subject were plural, you would use demoram:

• As cozeduras demoram oito horas = The cooking processes take eight hours

Because with demorar, the duration usually comes directly after the verb.

So you say:

• demora oito horas
• demora dois dias
• demora muito tempo

Not:

• demora por oito horas in this meaning

English uses for in some time expressions, but Portuguese normally does not here.

Yes. Both are possible, but there are slight differences.

• demorar = to take time
• levar = to take, very common in everyday speech for duration
• durar = to last

So these are all possible:

• A cozedura demora oito horas
• A cozedura leva oito horas
• A cozedura dura oito horas

Very roughly:

• demora focuses on the time needed
• leva is very natural and common
• dura focuses on the length/duration itself

Because the number is more than one, so the noun must be plural:

• uma hora
• duas horas
• oito horas

This works just like in English:

• one hour
• eight hours

Here it means eight hours, because it is a duration after the verb demora.

Compare:

• A cozedura demora oito horas. = The cooking takes eight hours.
• São oito horas. = It is eight o’clock.

So the context and the verb tell you whether oito horas is a duration or a clock time.

A rough European Portuguese pronunciation is:

a cu-zeh-DOO-ra dih-MO-ra OY-tu OR-ash

A few notes:

• cozedura has the stress on du: co-ze-DU-ra
• demora has the stress on mo: de-MO-ra
• oito sounds roughly like OY-too
• the h in horas is silent
• the r in horas is a tapped Portuguese r

European Portuguese reduces unstressed vowels a lot, so the real pronunciation is more compressed than the spelling suggests.

Usually it sounds like a specific process, or a process already known from context.

For example, in a recipe or technical description:

• A cozedura demora oito horas.

It can also sound general if the context makes that clear, but the definite article a often suggests something identifiable: the cooking process, not just cooking in general in the abstract.

If you wanted a more general statement, Portuguese might often use a different structure, such as:

• Cozinhar isto demora oito horas.
• Este processo de cozedura demora oito horas.