Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): A Ana não aceitou o convite porque já tinha outro plano. - Ana didn't accept the invitation because she already had another plan.

A Ana = literally “the Ana”
It doesn’t mean the same as English a; it is the definite article a (feminine singular), equivalent to English the, not a.

This article:

Is extremely common in Portugal in informal and neutral speech.
Can be dropped in some more formal contexts (e.g. in writing: Ana não aceitou o convite... is also possible, but still sounds more “written” / formal).

In Brazilian Portuguese, using the article before names is much less common and often sounds regional or colloquial. In Portugal, it’s standard everyday usage.

What is the role and position of não in não aceitou?

Não is the basic negation word, like English not.

It usually comes directly before the conjugated verb:
- A Ana não aceitou o convite. – “Ana did not accept the invitation.”
- Eu não gosto de café. – “I don’t like coffee.”

You normally do not put não after the verb:

✅ não aceitou
❌ aceitou não (wrong in standard Portuguese in this sentence)

When there are object pronouns, they come between não and the verb:

A Ana não o aceitou. – “Ana did not accept it.”

Why is the verb aceitou (preterite) and not something like aceitava?

Aceitou is the pretérito perfeito (simple past), used for:

Completed actions
Seen as one whole event in the past

So:

A Ana não aceitou o convite...
= She (didn’t) accept it at that particular moment (a single, completed decision).

Aceitava is the pretérito imperfeito, often used for:

Habitual actions in the past
Ongoing/background actions
Things without a clear beginning or end

Examples:

Quando era mais nova, Ana aceitava todos os convites.
“When she was younger, Ana used to accept every invitation.”

In your sentence, we’re talking about one specific invitation and one specific refusal, so aceitou is the natural tense.

Why is it tinha (“had”) and not teve in já tinha outro plano?

Both tinha and teve come from ter (“to have”), but the nuance is different:

tinha = pretérito imperfeito (imperfect)
teve = pretérito perfeito (simple past)

In já tinha outro plano, tinha:

Describes a state that was already true at that time.
Gives the idea that “she already had another plan” as an existing situation when she refused.

Timeline:

She had another plan (state: tinha outro plano).
Then she didn’t accept the invitation (não aceitou).

If you said:

porque já teve outro plano

it would sound odd here, as teve tends to present “having another plan” itself as a completed event. We want a background state, so tinha is much more natural.

Does já always mean “already”? Where does it go in the sentence?

In this sentence, já means “already”:

porque já tinha outro plano
“because she already had another plan.”

Typical positions:

Very often right before the verb:
- já tinha, já vi, já fiz, já comi.

Other positions are possible but less neutral:

porque tinha já outro plano – understandable, but a bit more formal/literary or marked in tone.

Meaning of já depends on context:

Já = already
- Já fiz os trabalhos de casa. – “I’ve already done my homework.”
Já = now / anymore / yet (in questions/negatives)
- Já comeste? – “Have you eaten yet?”
- Já não moro lá. – “I no longer live there / I don’t live there anymore.”

Here it’s clearly the “already” meaning.

What is the difference between porque, por que, and porquê? Why is porque used here?

In your sentence, porque is a conjunction meaning “because”:

...não aceitou o convite porque já tinha outro plano.
“...did not accept the invitation because she already had another plan.”

Very briefly:

porque
- Most common.
- Conjunction “because”; sometimes also “why” in questions.
- Example (because):
  Não fui à festa porque estava doente. – “I didn’t go to the party because I was ill.”
por que
- Literally por + que (“for what/which”).
- Used in more formal written language when que is a relative or interrogative pronoun.
- Example (formal): Não sei por que razão ela faltou.
porquê
- Noun meaning “reason / the why”.
- Usually with an article: o porquê = “the reason”.
- Example: Ninguém sabe o porquê de ela ter faltado. – “Nobody knows the reason why she was absent.”

In your sentence we’re clearly joining two clauses (she didn’t accept + she already had another plan), so we need the conjunction porque = because.

Why is it o convite and not um convite?

o convite = the invitation (definite)
um convite = an invitation (indefinite)

We use o convite because we’re referring to a specific invitation the speaker and listener both know about (from context).

Compare:

A Ana não aceitou o convite.
“Ana didn’t accept the invitation (the one we’re talking about).”
A Ana não aceitou um convite.
“Ana didn’t accept an invitation.” (some invitation, not specified which)

In most real contexts, we are talking about one known, concrete invitation (a party, an event, etc.), so o convite is natural.

Why is it outro plano and not outra plano? And can I say um outro plano?

Portuguese adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun:

plano is masculine singular
→ the matching form is outro (masculine singular).

Forms of outro:

Masculine singular: outro plano
Feminine singular: outra ideia
Masculine plural: outros planos
Feminine plural: outras ideias

So:

✅ outro plano – correct
❌ outra plano – wrong (gender mismatch)

You can say um outro plano, but it’s more emphatic:

outro plano – another plan
um outro plano – a different plan, a different one (often with a slight contrast, like “a different plan instead”).

In your sentence, outro plano (without um) is the normal, neutral choice.

Why is there no article before outro plano (why not um outro plano or o outro plano)?

After ter (“to have”), it’s very common to:

Omit the article when you’re speaking generally:
- Tenho carro. – “I have a car.”
- Ela tinha outro plano. – “She had another plan.”

You could say:

já tinha um outro plano – grammatically fine, but slightly more emphatic/contrastive (“she already had a different plan”).
já tinha o outro plano – would sound like you’re referring to one particular “other” plan both people already know about (very specific context).

In most neutral situations, já tinha outro plano is the most natural and idiomatic.

Could we say A Ana recusou o convite instead of não aceitou o convite? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

A Ana recusou o convite porque já tinha outro plano.

This is perfectly correct. Subtle difference:

não aceitou o convite – literally “did not accept the invitation”.
recusou o convite – “refused / declined the invitation”.

In practice, for this context:

They both mean she didn’t go along with it / she turned it down.
recusar is a bit more direct (“refuse”), while não aceitar can be very slightly softer (“didn’t accept”), but the difference is small here.

If I want to replace o convite with a pronoun (“it”), where does the pronoun go?

The direct object pronoun for o convite (masculine singular) is o.

There are two main patterns in European Portuguese:

With negation (like here), use proclisis (pronoun before the verb):

A Ana não o aceitou porque já tinha outro plano.
“Ana didn’t accept it because she already had another plan.”

Without negation and in more formal written style, you might see enclisis (after the verb):

A Ana aceitou-o. – “Ana accepted it.”

But:

❌ A Ana não aceitou-o is ungrammatical in standard Portuguese.
After não, the pronoun must come before the verb: não o aceitou.

Does não aceitou o convite porque já tinha outro plano ever mean “She didn’t accept the invitation, not because she had another plan (but for some other reason)”?

In English, “She didn’t accept the invitation because she already had another plan” can be ambiguous.

In Portuguese, as it stands, the normal interpretation of:

A Ana não aceitou o convite porque já tinha outro plano.

is:

She didn’t accept the invitation because she already had another plan.
(The other plan is the reason she refused.)

If you want to say “It’s not because she had another plan (but for some other reason)”, you would normally make that explicit:

A Ana não aceitou o convite, não porque tivesse outro plano, mas por timidez.
“Ana didn’t accept the invitation, not because she had another plan, but because of shyness.”

So, in real usage, your original sentence is not usually understood with the “not because” meaning; it’s read as a simple cause: she had another plan, therefore she didn’t accept.