Breakdown of A professora perguntou‑nos se sabíamos o que é um pronome ou um substantivo.
Questions & Answers about A professora perguntou‑nos se sabíamos o que é um pronome ou um substantivo.
In European Portuguese, you almost always use the definite article with professions or titles:
- A professora = the teacher (female)
- O professor = the teacher (male)
Saying just Professora perguntou‑nos… would sound incomplete or like you’re addressing her directly (as in “Professora, pergunte‑nos…”).
So A professora is the normal way to say “The (female) teacher” as the subject of a sentence.
Portuguese marks grammatical gender on nouns referring to people:
- o professor = male teacher
- a professora = female teacher
Because the teacher is female in this sentence, we use a professora.
The article also changes: o (masc.) → a (fem.).
Perguntou‑nos is:
- perguntou = “(she) asked” (3rd person singular, past tense of perguntar)
- nos = “us” (unstressed object pronoun)
In European Portuguese, when this type of pronoun comes after the verb, it is joined with a hyphen:
- perguntou‑nos = “she asked us”
- disse‑me = “she told me”
- mostrou‑lhe = “she showed him/her”
This pattern (verb + hyphen + pronoun) is called enclisis, and it’s the default in European Portuguese when nothing attracts the pronoun to go before the verb.
nós (with an accent) = subject pronoun “we”
- Nós sabíamos. = We knew.
nos (no accent) = unstressed object pronoun “us”
- A professora perguntou‑nos… = The teacher asked us…
So in perguntou‑nos, it must be nos (object), not nós.
You can say perguntou a nós, but:
- It sounds heavier and is usually used only for emphasis or contrast (e.g. “não lhes perguntou, perguntou a nós”).
- The natural, everyday way is with the clitic pronoun: perguntou‑nos.
So in normal speech and writing, perguntou‑nos is preferred.
This is mainly a European Portuguese rule.
In European Portuguese, if the verb comes first in the clause and there is no special “trigger” (like não, que, se, etc.), the pronoun normally goes after the verb:
- A professora perguntou‑nos… ✔ (standard in Portugal)
In Brazil, the most usual form would be:
- A professora nos perguntou… ✔ (Brazilian Portuguese)
So for Portuguese from Portugal, perguntou‑nos is the standard, correct option here.
Yes, se literally means “if”, but here it’s better translated as “whether”:
- perguntou‑nos se sabíamos…
= asked us if/whether we knew…
This se introduces an indirect question (a reported question), not a condition.
It’s like going from:
- Direct: “Sabem o que é um pronome…?”
- Indirect: “Perguntou‑nos se sabíamos o que é um pronome…”
Because this is reported speech about something that happened in the past.
- Original (spoken at that time): “Vocês sabem o que é um pronome…?” → present
- Reporting later: A professora perguntou‑nos se sabíamos… → the present of the original question is shifted back to the imperfect.
In Portuguese, after a past reporting verb (perguntou), it’s very natural to backshift the tense in the subordinate clause:
- perguntou se sabíamos
- disse que não queria
- achava que estava certo
Sabíamos here means “if at that time we knew…”.
Portuguese uses:
saber for knowledge of facts, skills, information
- Sabemos o que é um pronome. = We know what a pronoun is.
- Sei falar português. = I know how to speak Portuguese.
conhecer for being familiar with people, places, things
- Conheço a professora. = I know the teacher.
- Conheço Lisboa. = I know Lisbon / I’m familiar with Lisbon.
Since “what a pronoun or a noun is” is information/knowledge, saber is the correct verb: sabíamos.
Literally:
- o que é um pronome ou um substantivo = what a pronoun or a noun is
You could imagine a plural:
- o que são pronomes e substantivos = what pronouns and nouns are
But here the focus is on each type individually (“a pronoun” / “a noun”), so Portuguese often keeps é (singular) with this kind of definition, even when there’s an ou:
- o que é um cão ou um gato
- o que é um verbo ou um advérbio
This is very natural and idiomatic: o que é um X ou um Y when giving definitions.
- um pronome = “a pronoun”
- um substantivo = “a noun”
Repeating the article um:
- um pronome ou um substantivo
emphasises that they are two separate categories: one is “a pronoun”, the other is “a noun”.
You could say “o que é um pronome ou substantivo”, and it’s still understandable, but it sounds slightly less clean and less natural in standard written Portuguese. Repeating um is clearer and preferred.
Yes, but the meaning changes:
perguntou‑nos se sabíamos o que é…
= she asked whether we knew what it is (she is testing our knowledge).perguntou‑nos o que é um pronome ou um substantivo
= she asked us what a pronoun or a noun is (as if she didn’t know and wanted the definition).
The original sentence says she was checking if we knew, not asking for the definition itself.
The definition “what a pronoun or a noun is” is a timeless fact. In Portuguese, for:
- general truths
- definitions
- facts that are always valid
you normally keep the verb in the present, even inside a clause that depends on a past verb:
- Perguntou‑nos se sabíamos onde é Lisboa.
- Expliquei‑lhe como se diz “bom dia”.
So o que é um pronome ou um substantivo stays in the present because it’s a definition, not a past event.
Yes, that’s grammatically correct:
- A professora perguntou‑nos se sabíamos…
- A professora perguntou‑nos se nós sabíamos…
Adding nós:
- adds emphasis or contrast (e.g. if we knew, as opposed to others),
- but is not necessary for understanding who “nos” refers to.
In neutral style, perguntou‑nos se sabíamos (without nós) is more common.
Both can appear in questions, but they’re not always interchangeable:
o que é um pronome?
= what is a pronoun? (asking for a definition, nature, explanation)qual é o pronome correto?
= which is the correct pronoun? (choosing from known options)
In your sentence:
- o que é um pronome ou um substantivo is perfect because the teacher is talking about what these things are, i.e. their definitions.
- qual é um pronome ou um substantivo would be strange here.