Os pais da Ana vão ao mercado connosco.

Ana's parents are going to the market with us.

Breakdown of Os pais da Ana vão ao mercado connosco.

• Ana: Ana
• de: of
• ir: to go
• o mercado: the market
• connosco: with us
• os pais: the parents

Questions & Answers about Os pais da Ana vão ao mercado connosco.

What is the difference between pais and país? They look almost the same.

They are completely different words:

• pais (no accent) = parents (plural of pai, father).
• país (with an acute accent on í) = country.

Pronunciation also differs:

• pais = /paɪʃ/ in European Portuguese (one syllable, like “pice”).
• país = /paˈiʃ/ (two syllables: pa-ís).

In your sentence, Os pais da Ana… clearly means Ana’s parents.

Why is it os pais and not just pais at the beginning?

Portuguese almost always uses a definite article (o, a, os, as) before nouns, even when English doesn’t.

• Os pais da Ana = Ana’s parents or the parents of Ana.

Leaving the article out (Pais da Ana) would sound incomplete or like a heading/title, not a normal sentence. So you normally need os here.

Why is it da Ana and not de Ana?

Da is a contraction:

• de (of) + a (the, feminine singular) → da

In European Portuguese, most personal names take a definite article:

• a Ana = Ana
• o Pedro = Pedro

So os pais da Ana literally is “the parents of the Ana”, which is simply Ana’s parents in English.

You can sometimes see de Ana, but with common first names in everyday speech, da Ana is by far the normal choice.

Why is there no word for “they” in the sentence?

Portuguese usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending tells you who the subject is.

• (Eles) vão ao mercado. → They are going to the market.

The verb vão is 3rd person plural of ir (to go), so it already implies they.
Saying Eles vão ao mercado connosco is not wrong, but it’s only used when you want to emphasize they specifically (e.g., contrast, clarification). Most of the time, it’s simply omitted.

Why is the verb vão used here, and how is it formed?

Vão is the 3rd person plural present tense of the irregular verb ir (to go).

• eu vou – I go
• tu vais – you go (singular, informal)
• ele / ela / você vai – he / she / you (formal) goes
• nós vamos – we go
• vocês vão – you (plural) go
• eles / elas vão – they go

In Os pais da Ana vão ao mercado, the subject is os pais (they), so we use vão.

What exactly does ao mean in ao mercado?

Ao is a contraction:

• a (to) + o (the, masculine singular) → ao

So:

• vão a o mercado → vão ao mercado = they go to the market.

With most masculine singular nouns, a + o contracts to ao.
Similarly, a + os → aos, a + a → à, a + as → às.

Could I say vão para o mercado instead of vão ao mercado? What’s the difference between a and para here?

Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:

• ir a

  • place (→ ir ao mercado)
    Often focuses on the movement/visit itself; common for places you go and come back from (shops, cafés, restaurants, events).

• ir para

  • place (→ ir para o mercado)
    Emphasizes going to stay there / to be there for a while. It can sound more like going there as a destination rather than just popping in.

In everyday speech, vão ao mercado is the most natural for going to the market (to shop).

Why is it mercado and not supermercado? Are they the same?

They’re related but not identical:

• mercado = market in general (could be an open-air market, covered market, or sometimes a supermarket, depending on context).
• supermercado = specifically a supermarket.

In many contexts, mercado on its own will be understood as whatever the usual place for shopping is. If you want to be explicit that it’s a supermarket, you can say supermercado:

• Os pais da Ana vão ao supermercado connosco.

What does connosco actually mean, and why isn’t it com nós?

Con(n)osco means “with us”.

Portuguese has special forms for com + pronoun:

• com + mim → comigo (with me)
• com + ti → contigo (with you, singular informal)
• com + nós → connosco / conosco (with us)
• com + vós (rare today) → convosco (with you, plural)
• com + ele(s)/ela(s)/você(s) → com ele(s)/ela(s)/você(s) (no special form)

So you don’t say com nós in standard Portuguese; you use connosco (EP) / conosco (spelling variant) instead.

Why is it spelled connosco here? I’ve also seen conosco. Which is right?

Historically, European Portuguese used connosco (with nn), while Brazilian Portuguese used conosco (with one n).

After the spelling reform, conosco became the officially standardized spelling, but:

• In Brazilian Portuguese you will practically only see conosco.
• In European Portuguese, you may still see connosco in some books or materials, though conosco is also accepted and increasingly common.

Pronunciation is the same in both cases: roughly /kɔˈnoʃku/ in European Portuguese.

Why does com change to con in connosco?

You never actually write comnosco. The special form is con(n)osco, which comes historically from com + nós but has evolved into its own fixed form.

Think of connosco / conosco as a single word you just have to memorize, not as com + nós. The same pattern happens with contigo (with you) and comigo (with me).

Could I say Os pais de Ana vão ao mercado connosco instead of da Ana?

You can say Os pais de Ana, and it’s grammatically correct, but:

• In everyday European Portuguese, with common first names, using the article is more natural: da Ana.
• de Ana can sound a bit more formal, written, or styled (for example in literature, headings, or when the name is part of a longer expression).

For normal spoken language, os pais da Ana is the most idiomatic.

How would this sentence be pronounced in European Portuguese?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation (using English-like hints):

• Os – often like a weak “ush” [uʃ] or almost [ʊʃ] in fast speech
• pais – like “pice” [paɪʃ]
• da – short “duh” [dɐ]
• Ana – “AH-nuh” [ˈɐ.nɐ]
• vão – nasal “vown” [vɐ̃w̃] (nasal vowel, no real n at the end)
• ao – like “ow” in “cow” but shorter [aw]
• mercado – “mur-KAH-doo” [mɨɾˈkaðu] (first e is very reduced, almost like an English uh)
• connosco / conosco – “koh-NOSH-koo” [kɔˈnoʃku]

Said quickly, it flows something like:

[uʃ paɪʃ dɐ ˈɐ.nɐ vɐ̃w̃ aw mɨɾˈkaðu kɔˈnoʃku].