Ele esqueceu os óculos de sol no carro.

He forgot the sunglasses in the car.

Breakdown of Ele esqueceu os óculos de sol no carro.

• ele: he
• o carro: the car
• em: in
• esquecer: to forget
• os óculos de sol: the sunglasses

Questions & Answers about Ele esqueceu os óculos de sol no carro.

Why is the verb esqueceu in the simple past tense?

The form esqueceu is the third-person singular of esquecer in the pretérito perfeito (simple past). Portuguese uses this tense to describe a completed action in the past. So Ele esqueceu… literally means “He forgot…” (and that forgetting happened at a specific moment).

Why is the article os used before óculos instead of no article or an indefinite article?

In Portuguese, when you refer to a specific pair of glasses—especially one known to the speaker or listener—you normally use the definite article os.
• If you wanted to say “he forgot some sunglasses” without specifying which, you could use the indefinite uns:
• Ele esqueceu uns óculos de sol no carro.
But in most everyday contexts—“his sunglasses” or “the sunglasses we talked about”—you use os.

Why is óculos in the plural form?

Some items in Portuguese always appear in the plural, and óculos (“glasses”) is one of them. Even if it’s just one frame, you treat it grammatically as plural. That’s why you say os óculos and use plural adjectives or articles.

What does de sol mean in óculos de sol, and why use de?

de sol literally means “of sun.” In Portuguese, when you want to specify the type or purpose of an object, you often use de + noun. Thus óculos de sol = “sunglasses” (literally “glasses for sun”).

Why is the location no carro instead of em o carro?

Portuguese contracts prepositions with definite articles:
em + o becomes no
em + a becomes na
So em o carro is grammatically correct but almost always spoken or written as no carro.

Could we use a clitic pronoun and say Ele esqueceu-os no carro?

Yes. In European Portuguese, it’s common to attach the object pronoun to the verb in affirmative main clauses:
Ele esqueceu-os no carro.
Here -os stands for “them” (the sunglasses). In Brazilian Portuguese you’ll more often hear Ele os esqueceu no carro, with the pronoun before the verb.

What’s the difference between esquecer and esquecer-se de?

• esquecer algo (transitive): you forget something directly.
Example: Ele esqueceu os óculos.
• esquecer-se de algo (pronominal + preposition): you forget about something.
Example: Ele se esqueceu dos óculos de sol no carro.
Note that when you use esquecer-se, you must add de before the object (and contract de + os to dos).

Can the word order change, for example, No carro, ele esqueceu os óculos de sol?

Yes. Portuguese allows topicalization for emphasis. Placing No carro at the start highlights the location. The meaning stays the same:
No carro, ele esqueceu os óculos de sol.
is equivalent to
Ele esqueceu os óculos de sol no carro.