Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): A guia explicou que nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda para aquele planeta distante. - The guide explained that no astronaut has been sent yet to that distant planet.

Guia is a common‑gender noun in Portuguese: the word itself doesn’t change form, and the article tells you whether the person is male or female.

a guia = the (female) guide
o guia = the (male) guide

So in this sentence, A guia explicou… tells us that the guide is female.

The same happens with other professions like o/a artista, o/a dentista, where the final ‑a doesn’t automatically mean “feminine”; we look at the article instead.

What does que do in A guia explicou que nenhum astronauta…? Can we just say A guia explicou nenhum astronauta foi enviado…?

Here que is a conjunction meaning “that”, introducing a subordinate clause which is the content of what was explained.

Main clause: A guia explicou – The guide explained
Subordinate clause: que nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda… – that no astronaut has been sent yet…

In Portuguese you must keep this que.
Without it, A guia explicou nenhum astronauta foi enviado… is ungrammatical.

In English, we can sometimes drop that (She explained [that] nobody has gone), but in Portuguese this que is normally required in such structures.

How does nenhum work in nenhum astronauta? Is it like “no astronaut” or “not any astronaut”? And why don’t we use não as well?

Nenhum is a negative determiner meaning:

“no” (as in “no astronaut”)
or “not any” / “no single”

So:

nenhum astronauta ≈ no astronaut / not any astronaut

You do not use não directly together with nenhum in this structure:

✔ Nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda.
✔ Não foi enviado nenhum astronauta ainda.
✘ Nenhum astronauta não foi enviado ainda. (double negative; not standard)

Portuguese does allow “double negation” in other patterns (não… ninguém, não… nada), but nenhum in subject position generally replaces não:

Ninguém foi. / Não foi ninguém. – Nobody went.
Nenhum astronauta foi enviado. / Não foi enviado nenhum astronauta. – No astronaut was sent.

Why is it nenhum astronauta and not o nenhum astronauta? Don’t we usually need an article before nouns?

When you use nenhum (no/any) before a noun, it replaces the definite or indefinite article:

um astronauta – an astronaut
o astronauta – the astronaut
nenhum astronauta – no astronaut / not any astronaut

You don’t say o nenhum astronauta; that would be wrong.
The same pattern appears with other determiners like algum (some/any), muito (much/a lot of), etc.:

algum problema – any/some problem (not um algum problema)
muito trabalho – a lot of work (not o muito trabalho, in this sense)

What tense is foi enviado? It looks like “was sent”, but the English meaning is “has been sent”. Why is the simple past used for an English present perfect idea?

Foi enviado is:

the preterite (simple past) of ser: foi
- the past participle enviado (sent)

So literally it’s a past passive: “was sent”.

In European Portuguese, the preterite often covers what English expresses with either:

simple past (was sent) or
present perfect (has been sent)

Especially with “yet / ainda” in a negative or “not yet” context, Portuguese strongly prefers the preterite:

Nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda.
≈ No astronaut has been sent yet.

Using tem sido enviado (has been being sent) would sound unnatural here and also suggests a repeated / ongoing process, which is not what we want.

So is foi enviado a passive voice form? How would we say this in an active sentence?

Yes. Foi enviado is the passive voice of enviar:

enviaram um astronauta – they sent an astronaut (active)
um astronauta foi enviado – an astronaut was sent (passive)

In the full sentence:

Passive:
Nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda para aquele planeta distante.
No astronaut has been sent yet to that distant planet.

An active equivalent could be, for example:

Ainda não enviaram nenhum astronauta para aquele planeta distante.
They haven’t sent any astronaut yet to that distant planet.

Here enviaram is active; the (implied) subject is “they” (unspecified people, an agency, etc.), which is common in Portuguese.

Where should ainda go? Could we say nenhum astronauta ainda foi enviado or nenhum astronauta foi ainda enviado?

Ainda means “still / yet”, and it’s quite flexible in terms of word order. All of these are grammatically correct, with only slight differences in emphasis:

Nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda para aquele planeta distante.
Nenhum astronauta ainda foi enviado para aquele planeta distante.
Nenhum astronauta foi ainda enviado para aquele planeta distante.

Roughly:

Position before the main verb/auxiliary (ainda foi enviado) often feels a bit more formal or slightly more emphatic in European Portuguese.
Position at the end (foi enviado ainda) is very common in speech and neutral in tone.
Position between subject and verb (nenhum astronauta ainda foi enviado) is also natural and clear.

All three mean essentially: No astronaut has been sent yet…

Does ainda always translate as “yet”? I thought it also meant “still”.

Ainda can mean:

“still” – when something continues:
- Ele ainda está lá. – He is still there.
“yet” – mainly in negative or interrogative contexts:
- Ele ainda não chegou. – He hasn’t arrived yet.
- Já comeste? – Have you eaten yet?
- Ainda não. – Not yet.

In your sentence — Nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda… — ainda is clearly “yet”, because it’s about something that has not happened up to now.

Why is it para aquele planeta distante and not a aquele planeta distante or para esse planeta distante?

Two points here: preposition and demonstrative.

Preposition: para vs a
With verbs of movement, para is very common for “to / towards (a destination)”:
- Ir para casa – to go home
- Viajar para Portugal – to travel to Portugal
- Enviar algo para um planeta – to send something to a planet
In many contexts, a can also be used, especially in written or more formal language, but para is more explicit about destination/goal and is very natural here.
Aquele vs esse / este
In European Portuguese:
- este – near the speaker (“this”)
- esse – near the listener or just mentioned (“that”)
- aquele – far from both, or more abstract / distant (“that… over there / that distant one”)
Aquele planeta distante reinforces the idea of something far away from everyone, which matches “that distant planet” very well.
You could say esse planeta distante in some contexts, but it usually implies something already in the conversational focus or a little “closer” in discourse; aquele is more strongly “far away” and sounds better with distante.

Why does the adjective come after the noun in planeta distante? Could it be distante planeta?

The default order in Portuguese is:

noun + adjective
- planeta distante – distant planet
- cidade grande – big city
- livro interessante – interesting book

Putting the adjective before the noun is possible but much less common and typically:

adds a stylistic / literary flavor, or
can slightly change the nuance (more emotional, poetic, or highlighting a characteristic).

Distante planeta would sound poetic or literary, not neutral everyday language.
So aquele planeta distante is the normal, natural order for standard prose.

Is astronauta masculine or feminine? How would I say “female astronaut” in Portuguese?

Astronauta is, like guia, often treated as a common‑gender noun:

o astronauta – the male astronaut
a astronauta – the female astronaut

The form astronauta doesn’t change; the article and other agreements (adjectives, pronouns, participles, etc.) show the gender if it’s relevant:

a astronauta portuguesa – the Portuguese (female) astronaut
o astronauta português – the Portuguese (male) astronaut

In nenhum astronauta foi enviado, nenhum is the masculine form, but here it’s generic: no astronaut (of any gender) has been sent…

Why is it indicative foi enviado and not subjunctive fosse enviado after explicou que?

After explicar que followed by a fact or statement presented as true, Portuguese normally uses the indicative:

Ela explicou que o museu fecha às seis. – She explained that the museum closes at six.
A guia explicou que nenhum astronauta foi enviado ainda… – The guide explained that no astronaut has been sent yet…

You would use the subjunctive after que when the clause involves:

uncertainty, doubt, hypothesis, wish, or subjectivity, often triggered by verbs like duvidar, querer, esperar, temer, desejar, or expressions like é possível que, é provável que, tomara que, etc.:
- Duvido que ele tenha ido. – I doubt that he went.
- Espero que ele seja promovido. – I hope that he is promoted.

But explicar que + fact → indicative is the normal pattern.

How is nenhum pronounced, especially the -nhum part?

In European Portuguese pronunciation:

nenhum ≈ /nɨˈɲũ/

Key points:

ne-
- The e is often a reduced vowel, close to [ɨ], like a very short, central “uh”.
-nh-
- nh = a single sound /ɲ/, similar to the “ny” in “canyon”.
- So nhu is roughly like “nyoo” but nasal.
-um
- The u is nasalized because of the m.
- You don’t fully pronounce the m at the end; it mostly marks nasalization of the vowel.

So the stressed syllable is nhum (nasal), and the word is basically two syllables: ne‑NHUM.