Breakdown of O vento assusta a criança no parque.
em
in
a criança
the child
o parque
the park
o vento
the wind
assustar
to scare
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Questions & Answers about O vento assusta a criança no parque.
What does assusta mean and what tense/person is it?
Assusta comes from the verb assustar, which means “to scare” or “to frighten.” Here it’s in the third person singular of the present indicative (he/she/it scares). We use this form because the subject (o vento) is singular.
Why is there an a before criança? Is it a preposition?
That a is the feminine singular definite article (the), not a preposition. Portuguese often uses definite articles before nouns, so a criança literally means “the child.”
What does no mean in no parque?
No is a contraction of the preposition em (in) + the masculine article o (the). Therefore, no parque means “in the park.”
Why is it no and not na parque?
Because parque is a masculine noun, so it takes the article o, not a.
- em
- o → no (masculine)
- em
- a → na (feminine)
Does assustar take a direct object? How do you know it’s transitive here?
Yes. When assustar means “to scare,” it’s a transitive verb and takes a direct object without any preposition. In this sentence, a criança is the direct object—the child is what’s being scared.
What’s the typical word order in this Portuguese sentence compared to English?
Both Portuguese and English generally follow Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).
- Portuguese: O vento (subject) assusta (verb) a criança (object)
- English: “The wind” (subject) “scares” (verb) “the child” (object)
How would you say “a wind scares the child” or “the wind scares a child” in Portuguese?
To say “a wind scares the child,” use the indefinite article for wind:
Um vento assusta a criança no parque.
To say “the wind scares a child,” change the article before child:
O vento assusta uma criança no parque.