Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): O irmão tenta dar‑lhe consolo e diz que ninguém a considera culpada. - Her brother tries to comfort her and says that nobody considers her guilty.

dar‑lhe consolo is more compact and more typical in written or somewhat formal European Portuguese.
dar consolo a ela is perfectly correct, a bit more explicit and slightly more neutral for learners.

In normal European Portuguese writing, dar‑lhe consolo would be very natural.

Is lhe masculine or feminine? How do I know it refers to a woman here?

Lhe does not mark gender; it can mean to him, to her, or to you (formal).

You work out that it refers to a woman here from the rest of the sentence:

Later we have ninguém a considera culpada.
a is feminine direct‑object pronoun (her), and culpada is feminine.

So the context tells you that lhe here = to her.

Why is there a hyphen in dar‑lhe?

In Portuguese, unstressed object pronouns attach to certain verb forms with a hyphen. With infinitives like dar, the default in European Portuguese is enclisis (pronoun after the verb):

dar + lhe → dar‑lhe
dizer +‑lhe → dizer‑lhe
ajudar +‑te → ajudar‑te

So dar‑lhe consolo follows the standard rule: pronoun after an infinitive, joined with a hyphen.

In ninguém a considera culpada, what does a stand for exactly?

Here a is the feminine singular direct‑object pronoun, meaning her.

So ninguém a considera culpada literally is:

ninguém = nobody
a = her
considera = considers
culpada = guilty (feminine)

→ nobody considers her guilty.

It refers to the same female person mentioned before (the one receiving consolo).

Why is the pronoun a before considera, but lhe comes after dar (in dar‑lhe)?

Two different rules are active:

With a conjugated verb and certain “trigger” words, the pronoun goes before the verb (proclisis).
Negative/indefinite words like ninguém attract the pronoun:
- Ninguém a considera culpada. (Nobody considers her guilty.)
- Ninguém o viu. (Nobody saw him.)
- Nunca te esqueço. (I never forget you.)
With an infinitive in European Portuguese, the default is pronoun after the verb (enclisis).
- dar‑lhe consolo
- ajudar‑te (to help you)
- ver‑nos (to see us)

So:

a considera (proclisis) because of ninguém
dar‑lhe (enclisis) because dar is an infinitive.

Why is it culpada and not culpado?

Culpada is the feminine form of culpado (guilty).

In ninguém a considera culpada:

a = her (feminine direct object)
The adjective culpada agrees in gender (and number, if needed) with the person it describes.

If the person were male, it would be:

Ninguém o considera culpado. → Nobody considers him guilty.

Could I say ninguém considera ela culpada instead of ninguém a considera culpada?

In standard written Portuguese, ninguém a considera culpada is preferred.

Ela is a subject pronoun.
For a direct object, standard grammar uses a (her) or the full phrase a ela (to / of her, depending on verb), but ela directly after a verb as object is generally non‑standard.

You could say:

Ninguém a considera culpada. (best standard version)
Ninguém considera que ela seja culpada. (rephrasing with a clause: “no one considers that she is guilty”)

In everyday speech, some Brazilians might say ninguém considera ela culpada, but as a learner aiming for standard Portuguese (especially European), you should use ninguém a considera culpada.

What is the difference between ninguém a considera culpada and ninguém a culpa?

Both say she is not blamed, but the nuance is different:

ninguém a considera culpada
- Literally: “nobody considers her guilty.”
- Focuses on people’s judgment/opinion about her guilt.
ninguém a culpa
- Literally: “nobody blames her.”
- Focuses more directly on the act of blaming her.

In many contexts they are close in meaning, but considerar culpada sounds a bit more formal and evaluative.

Could we use consolar instead of dar‑lhe consolo? For example, O irmão tenta consolá‑la?

Yes:

O irmão tenta dar‑lhe consolo.
O irmão tenta consolá‑la.

Both are correct and natural. Differences:

dar‑lhe consolo literally highlights the idea of giving comfort.
consolá‑la (consolar +‑la) is the straightforward verb to console her, a bit more compact.

Stylistically, both are fine in European Portuguese; it’s largely a matter of style and context.

Why is it O irmão and not Seu irmão (“her brother”)?

Portuguese often uses the definite article o / a with family terms when the person is already known from context:

O irmão tenta dar‑lhe consolo… → Her brother tries to comfort her…

In English, you must show possession (“her brother”), but in Portuguese context frequently makes it clear whose brother it is. You only say seu irmão when you really need to specify whose brother and context is not enough:

O irmão tenta dar‑lhe consolo. (We already know we’re talking about her situation, so “the brother” = her brother.)
O irmão dela tenta dar‑lhe consolo. (Literally “her brother”, more explicit if needed.)
Seu irmão is also correct, but can be ambiguous (it could mean “his, her, your”) and is less necessary here.

Is consolo the only word for “comfort” here? What about conforto?

You can also say conforto in many contexts:

dar‑lhe consolo
dar‑lhe conforto

They overlap in meaning, but:

consolo is very common for emotional comfort when someone is sad, grieving, upset.
conforto can be emotional too, but also often refers to physical comfort (a comfortable chair, a comfortable room, etc.).

In this emotional context (someone is upset, being reassured), consolo is particularly natural.

Would Brazilians phrase this sentence differently from Europeans?

Yes, there are some tendencies:

In Brazil, lhe is much less common in everyday speech; people often use dar consolo para ela or dar consolo a ela instead of dar‑lhe consolo.
Pronoun placement also differs; Brazilians use proclisis (before the verb) more often:

European-style (your sentence):

O irmão tenta dar‑lhe consolo e diz que ninguém a considera culpada.

A natural informal Brazilian version might be:

O irmão tenta dar consolo pra ela e diz que ninguém a considera culpada.

The second part ninguém a considera culpada is fine in both varieties, though many Brazilians in speech might also say ninguém considera ela culpada (non‑standard but very common).