Breakdown of O autocarro chega ao mercado ao meio-dia.
Questions & Answers about O autocarro chega ao mercado ao meio-dia.
Chega is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb chegar (to arrive).
- chegar = the infinitive (to arrive)
- chega = he/she/it arrives (or “the bus arrives”)
- chegou = he/she/it arrived (simple past)
In Portuguese (as in English), we conjugate the verb to match the subject:
- O autocarro chega = The bus arrives
- Os autocarros chegam = The buses arrive
Here the subject o autocarro is singular, so we use chega.
Portuguese uses definite articles (o, a, os, as) much more often than English, especially with common nouns.
- O autocarro = literally “the bus”
- Just autocarro chega… would sound incomplete or wrong in standard Portuguese.
In English we can often drop the (“Buses arrive at noon”), but in Portuguese a singular, specific thing (like o autocarro on a schedule) normally takes the definite article.
Every Portuguese noun has grammatical gender, and autocarro is masculine.
- Masculine singular article: o
- Feminine singular article: a
You simply have to learn the gender with each noun:
- o autocarro (the bus) – masculine
- a estação (the station) – feminine
So we say o autocarro, not a autocarro.
Portuguese often uses the present tense for scheduled future events, just like English does:
- English: “The bus arrives at noon.” (present form, future meaning)
- Portuguese: O autocarro chega ao mercado ao meio-dia.
You could also use the future tense chegará:
- O autocarro chegará ao mercado ao meio-dia.
That is grammatically correct but sounds more formal or written. In timetables, announcements, and everyday speech, the present chega is very natural for fixed schedules.
Ao is a contraction of the preposition a plus the masculine singular article o:
- a + o = ao
So:
- ao mercado = a (to/at) + o mercado (the market)
- ao meio-dia = a (at) + o meio-dia (the midday / noon)
When a comes before o (masculine singular “the”), they normally combine into ao.
The verb chegar normally takes the preposition a to express destination:
- chegar a algum lugar = to arrive at / in a place
So you get:
- chegar ao mercado = arrive at the market
No is em + o (“in/on + the”), and chegar em is more typical of Brazilian Portuguese in informal speech. In European Portuguese, chegar a is standard and preferred.
So in Portugal:
- O autocarro chega ao mercado… is the natural choice.
Chegar combines with a, not with para, to talk about the place you reach:
- chegar a Lisboa / ao mercado / a casa
Para often expresses direction or purpose (“towards / in order to”):
- Vou para o mercado. = I’m going (towards) the market.
- O autocarro vai para o mercado. = The bus goes to the market.
But when you finally arrive, you say:
- O autocarro chega ao mercado.
Roughly:
- ao mercado (with a) after chegar = the place where you end up, where you arrive.
- para o mercado (with para) usually after ir, vir, seguir, etc. = direction or destination of a movement.
Examples:
- O autocarro vai para o mercado.
The bus is going to the market (its route/direction). - O autocarro chega ao mercado.
The bus arrives at the market (it has reached it).
Both are possible, but they are slightly different:
- ao meio-dia = at noon
- às doze = at twelve (o’clock)
Meio-dia is a specific noun (“midday/noon”), and it takes the masculine article:
- o meio-dia → ao meio-dia
The expression às doze comes from:
- a + as doze horas (to/at + the twelve hours)
- a + as → às So:
- às doze (horas) = at twelve (o’clock)
In your sentence, ao meio-dia is the more idiomatic way to say “at noon.”
Yes, in modern orthography it is normally written with a hyphen:
- meio-dia (noon)
- meia-noite (midnight)
So the standard form is:
- ao meio-dia, not ao meio dia.
Yes, grammatically that is fine and would mean “The bus arrives at the market at twelve (o’clock).”
Nuance:
- ao meio-dia sounds like exactly noon.
- às doze is more neutral “at twelve o’clock” (which is also noon, of course), and might feel a bit more “clock-time” style.
In everyday Portuguese, ao meio-dia is very natural for “at noon.”
Yes, that word order is also correct:
- O autocarro chega ao mercado ao meio-dia.
- Ao meio-dia, o autocarro chega ao mercado.
Putting the time expression ao meio-dia at the beginning emphasizes the time. It is similar to English:
- “At noon, the bus arrives at the market.”
What you normally would not do is split the verb and its complements in a strange way, like:
- O autocarro ao meio-dia chega ao mercado.
This is possible but feels awkward and is not the usual ordering.
In Brazil, the usual word for “bus” is ônibus, not autocarro.
A natural Brazilian Portuguese version would be:
- O ônibus chega ao mercado ao meio-dia.
Other points:
- In Brazil, many people say chegar no mercado instead of chegar ao mercado, although chegar ao mercado is also correct and more formal.
- The rest (ao meio-dia) is the same.