Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Portuguese grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Nossas amigas são felizes.
What does nossas mean in this sentence?
Nossas is a possessive adjective that means our. It appears in its feminine plural form to agree with the noun amigas, which specifically refers to female friends.
Why is amigas in the feminine form?
The noun amiga is inherently feminine in Portuguese. Since the sentence talks about friends who are female, amigas is used in the feminine plural, and all related adjectives and possessives must match this gender and number.
Why does the adjective appear as felizes instead of feliz?
In Portuguese, adjectives must agree in number with the noun they describe. Feliz is the singular form (used for one person), while felizes is the plural form (used for more than one). Even though adjectives ending in -e are often identical for both masculine and feminine in the singular, they still change to -es in the plural.
What is the function of the verb são in this sentence?
São is the third-person plural form of the verb ser (to be), equivalent to are in English. It acts as a linking verb, connecting the subject nossas amigas to the predicate adjective felizes, which describes their state or condition.
How does gender and number agreement work among the words in this sentence?
All elements in the sentence agree in both gender and number. Nossas is the feminine plural form of the possessive adjective, amigas is the feminine plural form of the noun, and felizes is the plural form of the adjective. This consistent agreement is essential in Portuguese to convey grammatical correctness.
Are there any noticeable structural differences between this Portuguese sentence and its English equivalent, “Our friends are happy”?
While the basic subject-verb-predicate structure is quite similar in both languages, Portuguese requires every adjective and possessive to clearly indicate gender and number. In English, adjectives do not change form to reflect these features, but in Portuguese, words like nossas and felizes provide additional grammatical information by matching the feminine plural noun amigas.
Could the adjective felizes ever be placed before the noun instead of after the verb?
In Portuguese, adjectives that act as predicates (describing a state or condition) are normally placed after the verb, as in são felizes. While some adjectives can be positioned before a noun to convey a different nuance, moving felizes before amigas in this context would sound unusual and change the natural flow of the sentence.