A faiança tem um vidrado branco.

The faience has a white glaze.

Breakdown of A faiança tem um vidrado branco.

• um: a
• ter: to have
• o: the
• branco: white

Questions & Answers about A faiança tem um vidrado branco.

Why does the sentence start with A? Does it mean the?

Yes. A is the feminine singular definite article, so it means the.

In this sentence, A faiança can mean the earthenware/faience in a general sense, like talking about that material as a type. Portuguese often uses the definite article in places where English might also use the, or sometimes no article at all depending on context.

So:

• a = the for a feminine singular noun
• faiança is feminine singular, so a matches it

Why is faiança feminine?

Because faiança is grammatically feminine in Portuguese. Grammatical gender is part of the noun itself, and it does not always match any natural or logical gender.

That is why you say:

• a faiança
• not o faiança

You usually just have to learn the gender together with the noun.

What does tem mean here?