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Questions & Answers about O público gosta de música.
What does the article O in O público indicate?
The article O is the masculine singular definite article. It tells you that público is a masculine noun referring to a specific group—translated as the audience or the public.
Why is the preposition de used with the verb gostar?
In Portuguese, the verb gostar always requires the preposition de before the object. This fixed construction is necessary even though English simply uses the verb to like directly with an object. So gosta de música means likes music.
How is the verb gostar conjugated here, and why is gosta the correct form?
The verb gostar is conjugated as gosta, which is the third-person singular form. Although o público refers collectively to a group, it is treated as a singular noun in this context; therefore, the singular form gosta is used for agreement.
Why isn’t there an article before música in the sentence?
Música is used in a general sense to refer to music as a concept or art form. In Portuguese, when speaking generally, you often omit the article. Thus, no article is needed before música.
What is the overall structure of the sentence O público gosta de música?
The sentence follows a subject-verb-object (or, more precisely, subject-verb-prepositional phrase) order. O público is the subject, gosta is the verb, and de música is a prepositional phrase that functions as the object of what is liked. This structure is comparable to the English sentence The audience likes music.