A cientista trabalha no laboratório.

The scientist works in the laboratory.

Breakdown of A cientista trabalha no laboratório.

• em: in
• trabalhar: to work
• a cientista: the scientist
• o laboratório: the laboratory

Questions & Answers about A cientista trabalha no laboratório.

What does the article A in A cientista tell us?

A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning “the”.

So:

• a cientista = the (female) scientist
• It tells you the noun is feminine and singular, and that we are talking about a specific scientist, not just any scientist.

Could it also be O cientista? What would that mean?

Yes.

• o cientista = the (male) scientist
• a cientista = the (female) scientist

The noun cientista itself doesn’t change; the article (o / a) marks the gender.

Why is it cientista and not something like científico?

In Portuguese:

• cientista is a noun = scientist (a person)
• científico / científica is an adjective = scientific (describing something)

So:

• a cientista = the scientist
• artigo científico = scientific article / paper

You need the noun for a profession, so cientista is correct.

Why is there an article before the profession, when in English we can say just “Scientist works in the lab”?

In Portuguese, a singular countable noun (like cientista) almost always needs some kind of determiner (article, demonstrative, etc.):

• A cientista trabalha… – natural
• Cientista trabalha… – sounds wrong in standard Portuguese

You can drop the article with professions in specific patterns like:

• Ela é cientista. – She is a scientist.

But when the profession is a clear subject of a full sentence with more information, you normally keep the article:

• A cientista trabalha no laboratório.

Why is it trabalha instead of trabalhar?

• trabalhar is the infinitive = to work

• trabalha is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of trabalhar:

  • (ela) trabalha = she works / is working
  • (ele) trabalha = he works / is working

In A cientista trabalha…, a cientista is the subject, so the verb must be conjugated as trabalha.

Where is the subject pronoun (like ela “she”) in this sentence? Why is it missing?

Portuguese is a “null-subject” (or “pro-drop”) language: you can usually omit subject pronouns because the verb ending and the context show who is doing the action.

• Ela trabalha no laboratório. – She works in the lab.
• Trabalha no laboratório. – still She works in the lab (if context is clear)
• A cientista trabalha no laboratório. – subject is clearly a cientista, so no pronoun is needed.

The pronoun ela would sound redundant here.

Does trabalha mean “works” or “is working”? How would I say “She is working in the lab right now” in European Portuguese?

In Portuguese, the simple present often covers both:

• A cientista trabalha no laboratório.
  • can mean The scientist works in the lab (in general, habitually)
  • and in some contexts also The scientist is working in the lab.

If you want to emphasize right now in European Portuguese, you typically use:

• A cientista está a trabalhar no laboratório. – The scientist is working in the lab (right now).

(Compare with Brazilian Portuguese: está trabalhando.)

What does no mean in no laboratório, and how is it formed?

no is a contraction:

• em (in / at) + o (the, masculine singular) → no

So:

• no laboratório = em + o laboratório = in the / at the laboratory

Why is it no laboratório and not na laboratório?

Because laboratório is masculine:

• masculine singular: o laboratório → no laboratório (in the laboratory)
• feminine singular: a sala → na sala (in the room)

So:

• em + o → no (for masculine nouns)
• em + a → na (for feminine nouns)

How would I say “in a laboratory” instead of “in the laboratory”?

Use the indefinite article:

• um laboratório = a laboratory
• em + um laboratório → num laboratório

So:

• A cientista trabalha num laboratório.
  = The scientist works in a laboratory (in some lab, not a specific one already known).

How do you pronounce trabalha and laboratório in European Portuguese?

Approximate IPA and a rough English-based guide (for European Portuguese):

• trabalha → /trɐ.ˈba.ʎɐ/

  • tra-: like “truh”
  • -ba-: like “bah”
  • -lha: the lh is like the ll in Spanish llama or similar to the lli in English million; ends with a schwa-like sound.

• laboratório → /lɐ.bu.ɾɐ.ˈtɔ.ɾju/

  • la-: “luh”
  • -bo-: “boo”
  • -ra-: “ruh”
  • -TÓ-: stressed, like “taw”
  • -rio: roughly “ryu”, with a quick r and a light final vowel.

(The r is a single tap [ɾ] in the middle of the word in standard European Portuguese.)

Why does laboratório have an accent on the ó?

In Portuguese, written accents mainly show:

1. Where the stress falls (which syllable is stressed).
2. Sometimes, which vowel quality to use (open vs closed).

Without knowing the rules, a word ending in -io might be stressed on the penultimate syllable. The accent on ó in laboratório tells you:

• The stress is on tó: la-bo-ra-TÓ-rio
• And that this vowel is pronounced as an open “ó” sound (/ɔ/).

So the accent guides both stress and sound.

How do you make this sentence plural?

Pluralize both the noun, the article, the verb, and (optionally) the location:

• As cientistas trabalham nos laboratórios.

Breakdown:

• a cientista → as cientistas (the scientists, feminine or mixed if context says so)
• trabalha → trabalham (they work)
• no laboratório → nos laboratórios
  • no = em + o → nos = em + os
  • laboratório → laboratórios

Can I change the word order, like No laboratório, a cientista trabalha?

Yes, that is correct and natural.

• A cientista trabalha no laboratório. – neutral, subject-first.
• No laboratório, a cientista trabalha. – also correct; puts a bit more focus on the location (“In the lab, the scientist works”).

Portuguese word order is fairly flexible, especially when you move prepositional phrases like no laboratório.

Do you capitalize cientista in Portuguese like English sometimes capitalizes job titles?

No.

In Portuguese:

• Professions and roles are normally not capitalized, unless they start a sentence.

So you write:

• a cientista, o médico, a professora, o engenheiro
  not A Cientista, O Médico, etc.