O remendo cobre o furo.

Because o is the masculine singular definite article, equivalent to the.

Both remendo and furo are masculine singular nouns, so they take o:

• o remendo = the patch
• o furo = the hole

If the nouns were feminine, you would use a instead.

Yes, remendo is a masculine singular noun.

In this sentence, you can tell from the article o. The plural would be:

• o remendo → os remendos
• o furo → os furos

So the plural sentence would be:

Os remendos cobrem os furos.
= The patches cover the holes.

A useful thing to remember: many nouns ending in -o are masculine, but not all of them, so it is best to learn the noun together with its article.

Cobre is the 3rd person singular present indicative of the verb cobrir.

So here it means covers.

Present tense of cobrir:

• eu cubro = I cover
• tu cobres = you cover
• ele/ela/você cobre = he/she/you covers
• nós cobrimos = we cover
• vós cobris = you all cover
• eles/elas/vocês cobrem = they/you all cover

So in O remendo cobre o furo, the subject is o remendo, which is singular, so cobre is the correct form.

Because cobrir is the infinitive, meaning to cover, while cobre is the conjugated form used in a normal sentence.

Compare:

• cobrir = to cover
• o remendo cobre = the patch covers

English does the same thing:

• to cover
• the patch covers

So Portuguese needs the conjugated verb here, not the infinitive.

Yes. Cobre can also be the noun copper.

So:

• o cobre = the copper
• cobre = covers

In this sentence, it is clearly the verb, because it comes after the subject o remendo and before the object o furo:

O remendo cobre o furo.

So the structure tells you it means covers, not copper.

Yes, grammatically you could.

The difference is:

• o remendo cobre o furo = the patch covers the hole
• um remendo cobre um furo = a patch covers a hole

Using o suggests that the speaker has a specific patch and a specific hole in mind, or that both are already known from context.

Using um makes them indefinite and less specific.

This sentence uses the most neutral and common word order in Portuguese:

subject + verb + object

• O remendo = subject
• cobre = verb
• o furo = object

That is the most natural order for a simple statement.

You can change the structure for emphasis or style, but the basic version is the normal one. For example, a passive version would be:

O furo é coberto pelo remendo.
= The hole is covered by the patch.

That is grammatical, but less neutral and usually less natural in everyday speech unless you want to focus on the hole.

Both can be translated as hole, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.

Furo often suggests:

• a hole through something
• a puncture
• a drilled or pierced opening
• something relatively neat or specific

Buraco is more general and can mean:

• a hole
• a gap
• a pit
• a cavity

In this sentence, furo sounds very natural because a patch typically covers a puncture or opening in a surface.

So remendo + furo is a very natural pairing.

Yes, often you can, but the nuance is slightly different.

• cobrir / cobre = to cover / covers
• tapar / tapa = to cover up, block, stop up, seal

So:

• O remendo cobre o furo focuses on the patch covering the hole.
• O remendo tapa o furo can sound a bit more like the patch blocks or seals the hole.

In many practical contexts, both are possible. Cobre is a straightforward match for covers.

A rough European Portuguese pronunciation is:

u r'mEN-du KOH-br' u FOO-ru

A few useful points:

• o as an unstressed article often sounds close to u
• remendo is stressed on men
• cobre is stressed on the first syllable
• furo is stressed on the first syllable
• the r in furo is a single tapped r, somewhat like the Spanish single r

Very roughly for an English speaker:

uh r'mEN-doo KOH-bruh uh FOO-roo

That is only approximate, but it gives the general rhythm.

No. Remendo can be literal or figurative.

Literal meaning:

• a patch on clothing
• something used to repair a tear or hole

Figurative meaning:

• a makeshift fix
• a temporary solution
• something done as a quick repair rather than a proper one

So depending on context, remendo can mean an actual patch or a metaphorical patch job. In this sentence, the literal meaning is the most obvious one.