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Questions & Answers about Tia trabalha hoje.
What does Tia mean in this sentence?
Tia means aunt in English. It refers to a female relative (typically a parent's sister) or, in some contexts, can be used affectionately for an older woman.
Why is there no article before Tia in the sentence?
In Portuguese, especially when using kinship terms in a clear, contextualized reference, it's common to omit the article. So instead of saying A tia trabalha hoje (“The aunt works today”), simply using Tia is natural and grammatically correct.
What tense and form is the verb trabalha in?
Trabalha is the third person singular form of trabalhar (to work) in the present indicative tense. It agrees with the subject Tia and indicates that the action is taking place now, as supported by the time indicator hoje.
What does the word hoje mean?
Hoje translates to today in English. It provides the temporal context for when the action (working) is happening.
How is the word order in Tia trabalha hoje similar to or different from English?
The word order is Subject-Verb-Adverb, which is quite similar to English. In a basic English equivalent, you might say Aunt works today (though in English we often use a possessive like my aunt works today). The sentence structure in Portuguese here mirrors the straightforward order used in simple English statements.
How would you turn this statement into a question in Portuguese?
To form a question, you can simply change your intonation when speaking: Tia trabalha hoje? In writing, you might also rearrange the sentence slightly or add a tag question (e.g., Será que tia trabalha hoje?) to signal a question formally.
How can I modify the sentence to specify that it is my aunt who works today?
You would add the possessive adjective to indicate ownership. One common form in European Portuguese is A minha tia trabalha hoje—here, minha means my, clearly specifying that you are referring to your own aunt.