Breakdown of A banda toca vários instrumentos ao vivo, e a multidão canta todas as músicas.
Questions & Answers about A banda toca vários instrumentos ao vivo, e a multidão canta todas as músicas.
In Portuguese, banda is grammatically singular, and verbs must agree grammatically, not logically.
- a banda toca = the band plays
- as bandas tocam = the bands play
Even though a band has many people, you still treat a banda as one unit, so you use the singular verb: toca, not tocam.
Portuguese present simple (toca, canta) is used more broadly than English present simple. It can describe:
- habitual actions: A banda toca ao vivo todos os sábados.
- things happening now, especially in narratives: A banda toca ao vivo, e a multidão canta…
If you strongly want the idea of “is playing right now”, you can use in European Portuguese:
- A banda está a tocar ao vivo.
Both are correct; the choice depends on context and style.
Ao vivo literally comes from a + o + vivo = “to the live / in the live”, but idiomatically it means live (not recorded).
Common uses:
- concerto ao vivo – live concert
- programa transmitido ao vivo – program broadcast live
- ver a banda ao vivo – see the band live
You don’t usually say tocar vivo; the fixed expression is ao vivo.
Both can be “a lot of / several instruments”, but there’s a nuance:
- vários instrumentos – several / various instruments (emphasis on variety, more than just one)
- muitos instrumentos – many instruments (emphasis on quantity)
In this sentence, vários suggests the band uses more than just one or two instruments, possibly different types.
As with banda, multidão (crowd) is grammatically singular, even though it refers to many people.
- a multidão canta – the crowd sings
- as multidões cantam – the crowds sing
Portuguese verbs agree with the grammatical number of the noun, not with the number of people inside the group.
In Portuguese, putting a comma before e is more flexible than in English.
- When e joins two independent clauses with different subjects, you may use a comma:
- A banda toca vários instrumentos ao vivo, e a multidão canta todas as músicas.
The comma highlights the pause and the change of subject (a banda → a multidão). You could also write it without the comma, and it would still be correct.
Here, vários instrumentos is an indefinite, general object: some instruments, not specific ones.
- toca vários instrumentos – plays various instruments (in general)
- toca os vários instrumentos – plays the various instruments (a specific set that is known in context)
- tocar um instrumento is a direct object; you normally don’t use a preposition:
- Ela toca piano.
- A banda toca instrumentos.
Tocar em + instrument exists, but it’s less standard here and often means more literally “touch/play on” something. For musical skill, tocar + instrumento (no preposition) is the norm.
In Portuguese, after todo/toda/todos/todas plus a countable noun, you normally include the definite article:
- todas as músicas – all the songs
- todos os alunos – all the students
- todas as pessoas – all the people
Saying todas músicas sounds incomplete or non‑native in this context. The article as is required.
Both exist and can often translate as songs, but there’s a nuance:
- música – music in general, but in everyday speech also “a song / track”
- Gosto desta música. – I like this song.
- canção – more specifically a song (with lyrics you sing), sometimes with a slightly more “literary” feel
In everyday European Portuguese, músicas is very common for “songs on a playlist / at a concert”.
So canta todas as músicas is perfectly natural. Canta todas as canções is also correct, just a bit more formal or poetic.
Adjectives and determiners must agree with the nouns in gender and number:
- instrumentos – masculine plural →
- vários (masc. plural) + instrumentos (masc. plural)
- músicas – feminine plural →
- todas (fem. plural) + as (fem. plural) + músicas (fem. plural)
If the noun were singular, the forms would change:
- vário instrumento (rare; you’d usually say um instrumento)
- toda a música – the whole music / the whole song (context‑dependent)
Portuguese uses definite articles much more than English, especially with specific, known things:
- a banda – the (known) band
- a multidão – the (particular) crowd present there
- as músicas – the songs (from that band, that concert, etc.)
You cannot normally drop these articles the way English does. Saying just banda toca or multidão canta would be ungrammatical here.
In Portuguese, the most natural order is:
- A banda toca vários instrumentos ao vivo.
You can sometimes move ao vivo:
- A banda toca ao vivo vários instrumentos. – understandable, but sounds a bit awkward; you’re splitting the verb and its object.
Best is to keep: verb + object + ao vivo. Placing ao vivo before toca or between toca and vários instrumentos is unusual in this simple sentence.
Approximate European Portuguese pronunciations (using English‑based hints):
- toca – TOH-kah (open o like in lot, stress on TO; final a is a bit reduced)
- vários – VAH-ryoosh (stress on VA, final s sounds like English sh)
- multidão – mul-ti-DÃW (nasal ãw at the end, like saying down with the sound in your nose; stress on DÃO)
- músicas – MOO-zee-kash (stress on MÚ, final s again like sh)
In European Portuguese, final s often sounds like sh [ʃ], and stressed ão is a nasal diphthong.