Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Por acaso, tens a tua palavra‑passe escrita na agenda? - Do you happen to have your password written in your planner?

It’s a softener/discourse marker that often corresponds to English by any chance. It makes the question sound tentative or polite, rather than blunt. In European Portuguese it’s very common in questions to check something that might be unlikely.

It can also convey surprise or mild disbelief depending on tone. With neutral, friendly intonation it’s polite; with incredulous intonation it can sound skeptical or even ironic.

Do I need the comma after Por acaso?

Not strictly. At the start of a sentence, Por acaso is often set off with a comma because it behaves like a parenthetical. Both are acceptable:

Por acaso, tens… (slight pause)
Por acaso tens… (fluent, no pause)

In speech you’ll usually hear a small pause.

Where else can Por acaso go in the sentence?

You can place it at the start (most common), or inside the sentence:

Por acaso, tens… (most natural)
Tens, por acaso, …? (also fine)
Tu, por acaso, tens…? (adds a small focus on “tu”)

Putting it at the end is unusual in Portugal.

Is tens the informal “you have”? What’s the formal version?

Yes. Tens is the 2nd‑person singular (tu). The formal or more distant option uses você with 3rd‑person verb:

Informal: Tu tens a tua…
Formal/distant: Você tem a sua… or O senhor/A senhora tem a sua…

In Portugal, tu is the default in informal contexts. Você can sound formal, distant, or even brusque depending on region/tone.

Why is it a tua and not just tua or sua?

European Portuguese typically uses the definite article with possessives: a tua, o teu, a sua, etc. Saying just tua palavra‑passe is rare in modern EP outside special styles.

Also, tua matches tu. Sua is 3rd person (ele/ela) and also used with você. So if you start with tu/tens, you should use tua; with você/tem, use sua.

Why is palavra‑passe feminine? Shouldn’t it be o palavra‑passe?

It’s feminine because the head of the compound is palavra (word), which is feminine. Many hyphenated compounds take the gender of their head element. Hence:

a palavra‑passe
as palavras‑passe

Why is it escrita and not escrito?

Agreement. Escrita agrees with the feminine singular palavra‑passe. If the noun were masculine, you’d use escrito:

a palavra‑passe escrita…
o código escrito…

What’s the hyphen doing in palavra‑passe? Is it optional?

The hyphen is standard spelling for this compound noun. You’ll see palavra‑passe in dictionaries and official writing. You might also encounter the English borrowing password in everyday speech, but the normative Portuguese term keeps the hyphen.

Do people in Portugal actually say palavra‑passe, or do they use password/senha?

All three occur:

palavra‑passe: standard/official term, taught in schools and used in documentation.
password: very common in everyday tech talk.
senha: understood, but in Portugal it also strongly means “ticket number” (at the bank, pharmacy, etc.). For digital contexts, many still understand senha as password, but it’s more default in Brazil. You’ll also hear código (code) or PIN in specific contexts.

Does agenda mean the same as English agenda?

Here, agenda means diary/planner (the physical notebook or your schedule). English “meeting agenda” is more like ordem de trabalhos or pauta. In Portuguese you can also say a minha agenda to mean my schedule is full.

What does na mean?

It’s a contraction: em + a = na (“in/on the”). Because agenda is feminine (a agenda), you get na agenda. The masculine equivalent is no (em + o).

Shouldn’t it be na tua agenda to match a tua palavra‑passe?

You can say that, and it’s perfectly fine: na tua agenda. Omitting the possessive is also natural when ownership is obvious from context (here, from a tua). Adding tua can emphasize or clarify whose agenda you mean.

Is ter + object + past participle (tens … escrita) a normal structure?

Yes. Ter + object + past participle is common to express a resulting state of something you “have”:

Tenho a casa arrumada. (I have the house tidy.)
Tens a tua palavra‑passe escrita… (You have your password written…)

Note this is different from ter + past participle without a direct object (Tenho escrito…), which is a “perfect” meaning (I have been writing) with aspectual nuances.

Could I say Está escrita… instead of Tens … escrita…? What’s the difference?

Está escrita… focuses on the state: “Is your password written…?”
Tens … escrita… focuses on you having/keeping it in that state: “Do you have your password written…?”

Both are natural here. The ter-version can subtly imply responsibility/choice.

Can I use other words than escrita for “written down”?

Yes, common alternatives in Portugal:

anotada (jotted down, noted)
apontada (written down as a note)
registada (recorded, logged; a bit more formal) All would agree in gender/number: a palavra‑passe anotada/apontada/registada.

How do I pronounce the tricky parts in European Portuguese?

Approximate EP pronunciations:

Por acaso: [puɾ ɐˈkazu] (the r links smoothly to the vowel)
tens a: [tẽz‿ɐ] (final s in tens often sounds like z before a vowel)
a tua: [ɐ ˈtwɐ]
palavra‑passe: [pɐˈlavɾɐ ˈpas(ɨ)] (final e can be very reduced)
escrita: [ʃˈkɾitɐ] (initial “escr-” sounds like “shk-”)
na agenda: [nɐ ɐˈʒẽdɐ] (g before e is [ʒ], like the s in “measure”)

Don’t worry about being exact; rhythm and vowel reduction matter a lot in EP.

Is Tens escrita a tua palavra‑passe na agenda? acceptable word order?

It’s grammatical but sounds marked/poetic. In everyday speech, keep the past participle after the noun phrase it modifies:

Natural: Tens a tua palavra‑passe escrita na agenda? Fronting escrita before the noun feels stylistic and is not the default.

Can Por acaso sound sarcastic or accusatory?

Yes—intonation and context matter. Neutral tone = polite/tentative. Incredulous or pointed tone can be sarcastic, e.g., Tu por acaso achas que isto é seguro? (“Do you by any chance think this is safe?”) Use a friendly tone to keep it soft.

How do I make it plural if I’m asking about multiple passwords?

Pluralize both the noun and the participle:

Por acaso, tens as tuas palavras‑passe escritas na agenda? Note that the plural of palavra‑passe is palavras‑passe (both parts take the plural), and escritas agrees in feminine plural.