A biografia da cientista foi escrita para leitores curiosos de todas as idades.

The scientist’s biography was written for curious readers of all ages.

Breakdown of A biografia da cientista foi escrita para leitores curiosos de todas as idades.

• ser: to be
• de: of
• para: for
• a idade: the age
• todas: all
• escrito: written
• a biografia: the biography
• a cientista: the scientist
• o leitor: the reader
• curioso: curious

Questions & Answers about A biografia da cientista foi escrita para leitores curiosos de todas as idades.

Why does the sentence start with A biografia instead of just Biografia or Uma biografia?

In Portuguese, we use definite articles (o, a, os, as) much more than in English.

• A biografia = the biography (a specific one, known in the context).
• Uma biografia = a biography (one among many, not specific).

In this sentence, A biografia suggests we are talking about a particular, identifiable biography (for example, the known biography of that scientist), not just any biography in general.

Simply saying Biografia da cientista foi escrita... without an article is not natural in standard Portuguese; most singular countable nouns need an article.

What exactly does da mean in da cientista?

Da is a contraction of:

• de (of) + a (the, feminine singular) → da

So:

• da cientista = de a cientista (not used separately in real speech) = of the scientist

Portuguese normally contracts prepositions with definite articles, so you’ll see:

• do = de + o (of the, masculine sing.)
• da = de + a (of the, fem. sing.)
• dos = de + os (of the, masc. plural)
• das = de + as (of the, fem. plural)

Is cientista always feminine because it ends in -a?

No. Nouns ending in -ista are very often common gender: the form of the noun stays the same, and the article and adjectives show the gender.

• o cientista famoso = the (male) scientist, famous
• a cientista famosa = the (female) scientist, famous

So:

• o cientista = male scientist
• a cientista = female scientist

In your sentence, da cientista uses a, so we know we’re talking about a female scientist.

Why is it cientista and not científica in this sentence?

Because cientista is a noun (a person), while científica is typically an adjective (scientific).

• a cientista = the scientist (person)
• a revista científica = the scientific journal / magazine

If you said a biografia da científica, it would sound like “the biography of the scientific [feminine]”, which is not correct Portuguese. You need the noun for “scientist”: cientista.

What tense and structure is foi escrita? Why not just escreveu?

Foi escrita is a passive voice form in the pretérito perfeito (simple past):

• foi = 3rd person singular of ser (to be) in the simple past
• escrita = past participle of escrever (to write), agreeing with biografia (feminine singular)

So:

• A biografia da cientista foi escrita...
  = The scientist’s biography *was written...* (passive)

If you said:

• Alguém escreveu a biografia da cientista...
  = Someone wrote the scientist’s biography... (active)

Escreveu alone needs a subject (Ele escreveu, Alguém escreveu, etc.), so “A biografia da cientista escreveu...” would mean “The biography wrote...”, which is wrong. Hence foi escrita is the correct passive form.

Why escrita and not escrito? I thought the participle was escrito.

The basic past participle of escrever is escrito, but in the ser + participle passive structure, the participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.

Here, the subject is:

• a biografia → feminine, singular

So:

• A biografia foi escrita. (feminine singular)
• O livro foi escrito. (masculine singular)
• As biografias foram escritas. (feminine plural)
• Os livros foram escritos. (masculine plural)

So escrita matches biografia (feminine singular).

Why do we use para before leitores and not a or por?

Here para means “for” in the sense of intended audience or purpose:

• foi escrita para leitores... = was written for readers...

Some contrasts:

• para: destination, purpose, intended recipient
  
  • Escrevi o livro para crianças. = I wrote the book for children.
• por: agent in a passive, cause, means, duration
  
  • O livro foi escrito por ela. = The book was written by her.

Using a leitores curiosos here would sound strange; para leitores curiosos is the natural way to express “for curious readers” (intended audience).

What does leitores imply about gender? Does it include women too?

Yes. In Portuguese, the masculine plural is used as the default form for mixed or unspecified groups.

• leitores can mean:
  • male readers only, or
  • male + female readers, or
  • readers in general (gender not specified)

If you wanted to explicitly highlight both genders, you could say:

• leitores e leitoras curiosos/as de todas as idades

but in normal usage, leitores already covers everyone.

Why is curiosos placed after leitores? Could we say curiosos leitores instead?

Yes, you can technically say curiosos leitores, but the nuance changes.

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun, and that’s the neutral, descriptive position:

• leitores curiosos = readers who are curious (plain description)

When adjectives come before the noun, they often sound more subjective, evaluative, or emphatic:

• curiosos leitores could sound more like “those curious readers”, with a bit more emphasis or stylistic colour.

In everyday, neutral speech, leitores curiosos (noun + adjective) is the standard and most natural order here.

Is para leitores curiosos the same as para leitores que são curiosos?

Practically, yes.

• para leitores curiosos
• para leitores que são curiosos

Both mean “for readers who are curious”. The version with the adjective (leitores curiosos) is shorter and more natural in this kind of sentence. The relative clause version (leitores que são curiosos) is grammatically fine but more wordy, and you’d normally only use it if you need to add something more complex.

How does de todas as idades work? Why de and not em?

De todas as idades literally means “of all ages”, just like in English:

• leitores de todas as idades = readers of all ages

Here de is used to express a range or category, very similar to English of.

Em todas as idades would literally be “in all ages” and doesn’t fit this pattern of describing the age range of people. So the natural expression is:

• pessoas de todas as idades
• crianças de todas as idades
• leitores de todas as idades

Why is it todas as idades and not just todas idades?

In Portuguese, when todo/toda/todos/todas is used with a specific or generic whole group, it normally comes with the definite article:

• todas as idades = all (of) the ages / all ages
• todos os alunos = all (the) students
• todas as pessoas = all (the) people

Leaving out the article (todas idades) is not grammatically correct in this structure. So you need:

• de todas as idades, not de todas idades.

Can we move para leitores curiosos de todas as idades to another place in the sentence?

Yes, word order in Portuguese is somewhat flexible, especially with longer phrases, but the given order is the most natural:

• A biografia da cientista foi escrita para leitores curiosos de todas as idades. ✅

You could also say, for example:

• A biografia da cientista, para leitores curiosos de todas as idades, foi escrita no ano passado.
  (if you add more information like “in the last year”)

Placing para leitores curiosos de todas as idades at the very beginning:

• Para leitores curiosos de todas as idades, a biografia da cientista foi escrita.

is grammatically possible but sounds more formal or literary. The original order is the most natural for everyday language.