A câmara tem captado imagens nítidas mesmo à noite.

The camera has been capturing sharp images even at night.

Breakdown of A câmara tem captado imagens nítidas mesmo à noite.

• ter: to have
• a noite: the night
• mesmo: even
• a câmara: the camera
• captar: to capture
• a imagem: the image
• nítido: sharp

Questions & Answers about A câmara tem captado imagens nítidas mesmo à noite.

What tense is tem captado in, and how is it used in European Portuguese?

Tem captado is the present perfect (pretérito perfeito composto). In EP it’s formed with ter in the present plus a past participle, and it expresses an action that began in the past and continues or has relevance now. It’s similar to English “has been capturing” or “has captured repeatedly.”

Why use tem captado instead of captou or está a captar?

• captou is the simple past (pretérito perfeito): it reports a completed action at a specific moment (“the camera captured those images”).
• está a captar is the present continuous (pretérito perfeito composto with estar): it emphasizes what is happening right now (“the camera is capturing”).
• tem captado highlights the ongoing result over a period (“it has been capturing clear images”), focusing on continuity and recent performance.

What's the role of mesmo in mesmo à noite?

Here mesmo means even, adding emphasis. It shows that obtaining clear images at night is remarkable: even at night.

Why is it à noite with a grave accent on à, and can you say de noite instead?

• The grave accent on à marks the contraction a + a (preposition + feminine article), literally “at the night.”
• De noite (“of night”) is also common in EP and simply means “at night” in a general sense. Both are correct; à noite can feel a bit more specific or formal.

Why are imagens and nítidas both in the plural, and why is nítidas feminine?

• Imagens is feminine plural (singular: uma imagem).
• In Portuguese adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun, so the feminine plural of nítido is nítidas.

Why does nítidas have an accent on the í?

The acute accent on í marks the stressed syllable and indicates an open vowel sound. Without it, the stress would shift and pronunciation change.

How do you pronounce câmara, and what does the circumflex on â indicate?

• Pronunciation: CA-ma-ra, stress on the first syllable.
• The circumflex over â shows that the vowel is closed [a] and that the stress falls on that first syllable, overriding the default stress rules.

Could you say tem estado a captar instead of tem captado? Are they interchangeable?

• Tem captado (ter + past participle) focuses on the resulting images over time.
• Tem estado a captar (ter + estar a + infinitive) emphasizes the ongoing process of capturing.
  They’re close in meaning but not fully interchangeable: choose tem captado to stress results and tem estado a captar to stress the continuous action.