Questions & Answers about A válvula perdeu ar.
What does A mean at the beginning of the sentence?
A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.
So:
- a válvula = the valve
Portuguese nouns have grammatical gender, and válvula is feminine, so it takes a, not o.
Why is it válvula and not some other form of valve?
Válvula is the standard Portuguese word for valve. It is a feminine noun:
- singular: a válvula
- plural: as válvulas
The accent mark shows the stressed syllable: VÁL-vu-la.
What tense is perdeu?
Perdeu is the pretérito perfeito (simple past) of the verb perder.
Here it means lost:
- perder = to lose
- perdeu = he/she/it lost; you lost; formal you lost
In this sentence, the subject is a válvula, so perdeu means:
- the valve lost