Breakdown of Esse prémio foi entregue pela gerente da empresa.
Questions & Answers about Esse prémio foi entregue pela gerente da empresa.
Foi entregue means “was delivered” or “was awarded.” In Portuguese the passive voice is built with:
- An appropriate tense of ser (here foi = 3rd person singular, past preterite of ser)
- the past participle of the main verb (entregue, from entregar).
Pela is the contraction of por + a. In passive constructions por marks the agent (“by…”), and a is the definite article for the feminine noun gerente.
So pela gerente = “by the (female) manager.”
Da is simply the contracted form of de + a. That contraction is mandatory in Portuguese whenever de is followed by the feminine singular definite article a.
So de + a empresa → da empresa (“of the company”).
Portuguese demonstratives distinguish proximity:
- este = near the speaker
- esse = near the listener or referring back to something just mentioned
- aquele = far from both
Here esse prémio points to “that award” (probably already introduced or closer to the listener).
Swap subject and agent and use the verb in past tense:
A gerente da empresa entregou esse prémio.
(“The company’s manager delivered/awarded that prize.”)
Yes. Gerente is an epicene noun—it doesn’t change form for gender. The article shows the gender:
- o gerente = male manager
- a gerente = female manager
Portuguese has two participles for entregar:
- Regular: entregado
- Irregular: entregue
Both are correct, but entregue is more commonly used in formal passive constructions in European Portuguese.
- Foi entregue uses ser
- past participle to focus on the action (“it was delivered/awarded”).
- Está entregue uses estar
- past participle to describe the current state (“it is delivered/awarded,” implying it remains in that condition).