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Cada cliente recebe também uma colher descartável para o molho.

Cada cliente recebe também uma colher descartável para o molho.
Each customer also receives a disposable spoon for the sauce.
FromLesson 22inHardcore Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Cada cliente recebe também uma colher descartável para o molho.

Why is the verb in the singular form recebe when we’re talking about multiple clients?

In Portuguese, cada (‘each’) is grammatically singular. It focuses on one individual at a time, so the verb must agree with that singular subject.

  • Cada cliente recebe = “Each client receives.”
    If you said Todos os clientes recebem, you’d use the plural verb recebem because todos os clientes is plural.
Why do we include the indefinite article uma before colher?
Portuguese countable nouns generally need an article or another determiner. Here uma colher means “one (unspecified) spoon.” Without uma, recebe colher descartável sounds incomplete or ungrammatical.
What does também mean here, and why is it placed after the verb? Could it go somewhere else?

também means “also” or “too.” Placed after the verb, it emphasizes that in addition to everything else the customer gets, they also receive a disposable spoon:

  • Cada cliente recebe também… (common placement)
    You could also say:
  • Cada cliente também recebe… (emphasizes “each client,” then adds “also receives”)
  • Também cada cliente recebe… (more formal/literary)
What does colher descartável mean, and why is descartável placed after colher?

colher descartável = “disposable spoon.” In Portuguese, most adjectives follow the noun:

  • noun (colher) + adjective (descartável)
    descartável comes from descartar (“to discard”) + -ável (“-able”), so it literally means “able to be thrown away after use.”
Why do we say para o molho instead of para molho or de molho?
  • para indicates purpose: “for the sauce.”
  • The definite article o is used because we mean the sauce provided with the dish.
  • para molho (no article) sounds unnatural in European Portuguese.
  • de molho means “soaked in sauce” (e.g. pão de molho = “bread soaked in sauce”), a different meaning.
What’s the difference between cada cliente and todos os clientes?
  • cada cliente focuses on each individual separately: “each client.”
  • todos os clientes refers to the whole group at once: “all the clients.”
    Thus:
    • Cada cliente recebe… = “Each client receives…”
    • Todos os clientes recebem… = “All the clients receive…”
How would you change the sentence if each client got more than one spoon?

1) Make the noun and adjective plural:
colheres descartáveis (“disposable spoons”)
2) Drop the singular article uma, or use a plural determiner:

  • Cada cliente recebe também colheres descartáveis para o molho.
    (unspecified multiple spoons)
  • Cada cliente recebe também duas colheres descartáveis para o molho.
    (specifies “two spoons”)
How do you form the plural of descartável?

Adjectives ending in -vel form the plural by adding -s:

  • Singular: descartável
  • Plural: descartáveis
    So colher descartável → colheres descartáveis.
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