Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): A etiqueta pendurada no chapéu mostra o preço final. - The label hanging on the hat shows the final price.

In Portuguese, nouns normally require an article. a etiqueta literally means the label. You could use uma etiqueta (a label) for any label in general, but when you refer to a specific one you use the definite article a.

What part of speech is pendurada in this sentence?

pendurada is the past participle of pendurar used as an adjective. It describes the state of the label—namely, that it is “hung” on the hat.

Why does pendurada end in -a instead of -o?

Adjectives (including participles used adjectivally) must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Since etiqueta is feminine singular, the participle becomes pendurada (feminine singular) rather than pendurado.

Could we use the gerund pendurando instead of pendurada?

No. pendurando is a gerund, indicating an ongoing action (“hanging”). Here we want to express the label is already hanging (a completed or resulting state), so we use the past participle pendurada.

What does no chapéu mean, and why not say em o chapéu?

no is the contraction of em + o. Portuguese routinely contracts prepositions + definite articles: em + o → no, em + a → na, etc. So no chapéu means on the hat (or “in the hat,” depending on context).

Why do we keep the article before chapéu after the preposition?

Even in prepositional phrases, Portuguese generally retains the definite article when referring to a specific object. no chapéu means “on the (specific) hat.” If you wanted an unspecified hat, you could say num chapéu (em + um).

Why does mostrar directly take o preço final without a preposition?

mostrar is a transitive verb in Portuguese that takes a direct object. The thing being shown (o preço final) follows the verb directly, just like in English “the label shows the final price.”

Why do we say o preço final and not just preço final?

As with etiqueta, nouns typically appear with articles in European Portuguese. o preço final means the final price. Dropping the article (saying just preço final) would sound unnatural in this context.

Could we rewrite the sentence in the passive voice?

Yes. For example: O preço final é mostrado pela etiqueta pendurada no chapéu. This puts o preço final as the subject and uses pela (por + a) to indicate the agent (“by the label”).

Can we use rótulo instead of etiqueta here?

Yes, rótulo and etiqueta can both mean “label.” In practice they overlap a lot, though rótulo often refers to a sticker or printed label (e.g., on bottles), while etiqueta is more generic. In many contexts they are interchangeable.