Breakdown of Nós gravamos o vídeo da festa.
de
of
nós
we
a festa
the party
o
the
o vídeo
the video
gravar
to record
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Portuguese grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Nós gravamos o vídeo da festa.
What tense is gravámos and how do I know it means we recorded instead of we record?
In European Portuguese the nós ending -amos appears in both the present indicative and the pretérito perfeito of regular -ar verbs. We distinguish them by the acute accent: gravámos = we recorded (past), while gravamos (no accent) = we record (present). The accent mark and the context tell you it’s past.
Why is the ending -amos the same for both tenses?
For regular -ar verbs in Portuguese, the nós form uses -amos in both present and preterite. To avoid confusion in writing, the preterite adds an acute accent on the stressed vowel, e.g. cantamos = we sing vs cantámos = we sang.
Can I leave out nós and just say gravámos o vídeo da festa?
Yes. Portuguese is a pro-drop language: the verb ending indicates person and number, so subject pronouns like nós are optional and used mainly for emphasis or clarity.
Why is it o vídeo and not a vídeo?
Because vídeo is a masculine noun, it takes the masculine definite article o. Feminine nouns would take a.
What does da festa mean, and why not just de festa?
da is the contraction of de + a (the feminine definite article). Since festa is feminine, de + a = da, giving o vídeo da festa = the video of the party. Saying de festa without the article would be incorrect here.
Can I use filmámos instead of gravámos?
Yes. gravar means to record (audio or video), while filmar specifically means to film (video). Both gravámos o vídeo and filmámos o vídeo are natural ways to say we recorded the video.
How do I pronounce gravámos compared to gravamos?
The acute accent in gravámos places stress on the first syllable: GRA-vah-mush ([ɡɾaˈvamɨʃ] in EP). The present gravamos (no accent) is stressed on the second syllable: gra-VAH-mush ([ɡɾɐˈvamuʃ]). Context also clarifies if it’s past or present.