Questions & Answers about A Ana é muito independente.
In European Portuguese, it’s very common to use the definite article (o, a, os, as) before people’s first names.
- A Ana = the Ana (literally), but in practice just “Ana”.
- O João = João
- A Maria, O Pedro, etc.
The article here shows:
- Gender: a for feminine names, o for masculine.
- It’s just the normal way to refer to someone by name in most everyday European Portuguese.
So A Ana é muito independente is the natural, neutral way to say it in Portugal, even though English doesn’t use “the” with names.
You can, and it’s grammatically correct, but in European Portuguese it sounds:
- More formal, written, or “stylistic”, for example in:
- headlines,
- biographies,
- some literary or journalistic styles.
- In everyday speech in Portugal, people very typically say A Ana, O João, etc.
So:
- A Ana é muito independente = the most natural everyday sentence in Portugal.
- Ana é muito independente = correct, but feels more written/formal or marked in European Portuguese.
- A Ana é muito independente explicitly names the person; it’s clear who we’re talking about.
- Ela é muito independente = “She is very independent” and depends on context; ela must refer back to a female person already mentioned.
Also, Portuguese often drops the subject pronoun when it’s clear from context:
- É muito independente.
Literally “Is very independent.” The subject (ela, a Ana, etc.) is understood from context.
So you might see:
- A Ana é muito independente. É muito madura para a idade.
(Here the second sentence drops ela, because it’s clear we’re still talking about Ana.)
Portuguese has two verbs that both translate as “to be”:
- ser – used for permanent or defining characteristics, identity, inherent qualities.
- estar – used for temporary states, conditions, locations, moods, ongoing changes.
Independence here is presented as a character trait, not a temporary state, so you use ser:
- A Ana é muito independente.
She is (by nature / as a person) very independent.
If you used estar:
- A Ana está muito independente.
This would sound like:
- “Ana is behaving very independent lately / at the moment,”
i.e. a temporary or recent behaviour, not her basic character. It’s possible in context, but it changes the meaning.
É is:
- 3rd person singular, present tense of ser
Used with ele / ela / você / o João / a Ana, etc.
Full present indicative of ser:
- eu sou – I am
- tu és – you are (informal singular)
- ele / ela / você é – he / she / you (formal) is
- nós somos – we are
- vocês são – you (plural) are
- eles / elas são – they are
So A Ana é matches the ele/ela/você é form.
Muito has two main roles:
As an adverb (before adjectives or other adverbs)
– translated as “very” or “really”- muito independente = very independent
- muito feliz = very happy
- muito bem = very well
In this use, muito is invariable: it does not change for gender or number.
As an adjective or pronoun (before nouns)
– translated as “much / many / a lot of”
It agrees with the noun:- muito dinheiro – much / a lot of money (masc. sg.)
- muita água – much / a lot of water (fem. sg.)
- muitos livros – many books (masc. pl.)
- muitas pessoas – many people (fem. pl.)
In A Ana é muito independente, muito is an adverb modifying an adjective (independente), so it has the meaning “very”.
Because here muito is an adverb describing how independent Ana is:
- muito independente = very independent
As an adverb, muito is invariable:
- muito independente (for a woman)
- muito independente (for a man)
- muito alto / muito alta (very tall – same muito in both)
It only changes to muita/muitos/muitas when it’s used before a noun (much/many).
Note: in some informal varieties you may hear people say things like “muita gira” about a girl, but standard European Portuguese in writing and careful speech keeps muito unchanged before adjectives: muito gira, muito simpático, etc.
Adjectives in Portuguese follow different patterns. One big group is adjectives ending in -e (like independente).
For most adjectives ending in -e:
The masculine singular and feminine singular forms are the same:
- o João é independente
- a Ana é independente
The plural adds -s:
- os rapazes são independentes
- as raparigas são independentes
Other examples of this pattern:
- inteligente → inteligente / inteligentes
- feliz → feliz / felizes
So independente already works for both masculine and feminine in the singular.
In this type of sentence (subject + ser + adjective):
- The normal order is:
[Subject] + [ser] + [intensifier like muito] + [adjective]
So:
- A Ana é muito independente. ✅
- A Ana é independente muito. ❌ (incorrect / unnatural)
More generally, with nouns:
- Adjectives usually come after the noun:
- uma casa grande – a big house
- um carro rápido – a fast car
But with ser and other linking verbs, the adjective follows the verb:
- A casa é grande. – The house is big.
- O carro é rápido. – The car is fast.
- A Ana é muito independente. – Ana is very independent.
Approximate pronunciation (European Portuguese):
- A – like a very short “uh” sound: [ɐ]
- Ana – roughly “AH-nuh”, but with the first a more like
- Together A Ana: [ɐ ˈɐnɐ] – you’ll hear two separate a sounds in a row.
- é – like “eh”, open e: [ɛ]
- muito – in Portugal often like “MOOY-too”, with the mui- a bit nasal: [ˈmũjtu]
- independente – roughly “in-de-pen-DEN-t(uh)”, with some nasal e sounds:
- [ĩdɛpẽˈdẽtɨ] (final e is a weak “uh” sound [ɨ])
Said smoothly, it’s something like:
- [ɐ ˈɐnɐ ɛ ˈmũjtu ĩdɛpẽˈdẽtɨ]
Don’t worry about perfect IPA at first; aim for:
- “uh AH-nuh eh MOOY-too in-de-pen-DEN-tuh” in one flowing rhythm.
The accent on é in Portuguese marks two things:
- Stress position – it shows that this syllable is stressed.
- Vowel quality – it indicates an open e sound ([ɛ], like “eh”).
Without the accent:
- e can be pronounced differently (often more closed or even very weak/unstressed, like “i” or a schwa-like sound), and
- in some words, the accent can distinguish between different meanings or grammatical forms.
In the verb ser:
- é (with accent) is the 3rd person singular present form – “is”.
- e (without accent) would not be recognised as that verb form; it would usually be read as the simple conjunction e = “and”.
So the accent is essential here; A Ana é muito independente with é clearly means “Ana is very independent.”