Breakdown of Nesta década, o trânsito da cidade piorou bastante.
de
of
esta
this
a cidade
the city
em
in
o trânsito
the traffic
bastante
a lot
a década
the decade
piorar
to worsen
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Questions & Answers about Nesta década, o trânsito da cidade piorou bastante.
Why is nesta used here? What does it come from?
nesta is the contraction of the preposition em (in) + the feminine singular demonstrative esta (this). So instead of saying em esta década, European Portuguese combines them into nesta década.
Why does década carry an acute accent on the first e?
Portuguese orthography requires that all proparoxytones (words stressed on the antepenultimate syllable) carry a written accent. década is stressed on dé- (the first of three syllables), so the acute accent marks both the stressed syllable and the open e sound.
Why is there an article o before trânsito? Can we drop it?
In Portuguese, abstract or general nouns like trânsito normally appear with a definite article: o trânsito means the traffic. You could omit the article in very informal contexts or headlines (Trânsito piora na cidade), but in standard sentences you keep o.
What does da in da cidade represent?
da is the contraction of the preposition de (of/from) + the feminine singular article a (the). So trânsito da cidade literally means traffic of the city, i.e. the city’s traffic.
What tense and person is piorou, and why is this form used?
piorou is the third person singular of piorar in the pretérito perfeito do indicativo (simple past). It’s used here to state that the traffic worsened at some point (or gradually) over the course of this decade, viewed as a completed fact.
How is piorou divided into syllables and where is the stress?
piorou splits as pi-o-rou (three syllables). The stress falls on the last syllable -rou, making it an oxytone. In IPA (European Portuguese) it’s [pi.ɔˈɾow].
What part of speech is bastante here, and could we use muito instead?
Here bastante functions as an adverb meaning quite, considerably or a lot. You can replace it with muito (o trânsito piorou muito), but bastante often carries an extra sense of sufficiently or more than expected.
Why is bastante placed after piorou rather than before?
In Portuguese the typical position for degree adverbs (like bastante, muito, pouco) is after the verb they modify: piorou bastante. Putting it before (bastante piorou) would sound odd or emphatic, not neutral.
Is the comma after década mandatory?
No, the comma after an introductory element (like Nesta década) is optional in Portuguese, though in formal writing it’s common to use it to separate the opening phrase from the main clause.
Could one say o trânsito na cidade piorou bastante instead? What’s the difference?
Yes. na cidade is the contraction of em + a, focusing on location (in the city). da cidade (of the city) emphasizes possession or identity (the city’s traffic). Both are correct, with a slight nuance:
- trânsito na cidade = the traffic that takes place in the city
- trânsito da cidade = the traffic belonging to/characteristic of the city