Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Os adeptos cantam quando a sua equipa marca um golo. - The fans sing when their team scores a goal.

It’s most commonly used for sports fans, especially football (soccer).
In everyday speech in Portugal, os adeptos is more neutral and standard than os fãs.

You could say:

Os adeptos do Benfica – Benfica supporters
Os fãs do cantor – the singer’s fans (for music, artists, etc.)

So adeptos is the natural, specific word for sports supporters.

Why is it os adeptos and not as adeptos?

Adepto is a masculine noun:

singular: o adepto (the supporter)
plural: os adeptos (the supporters)

Even if the group includes both men and women, Portuguese normally uses the masculine plural (os adeptos) for a mixed or general group.

As adeptas would refer specifically to female supporters only, and is much less common unless you are deliberately focusing on women.

Why is it a sua equipa instead of just sua equipa?

In European Portuguese, it is very common and natural to keep the definite article before possessives:

a sua equipa – literally “the your team” → “their/your team”
o seu carro – “your car”
a minha casa – “my house”

You can sometimes drop the article (e.g. in titles, after certain verbs, in more formal/archaic style), but in normal speech:

a sua equipa sounds natural
sua equipa sounds formal, literary, or odd in most everyday contexts in Portugal.

So the article a is expected here.

Who does sua refer to here – the supporters or someone else?

In this sentence, sua logically refers to os adeptos: it’s “their team”.

Grammatically, however, seu/sua can be ambiguous: it could mean his, her, their, your (formal) depending on context.

To avoid ambiguity, European Portuguese speakers often say:

a equipa deles – their team (of a group of males or mixed)
a equipa delas – their team (of a group of females)

So you could also say:

Os adeptos cantam quando a equipa deles marca um golo.

That is even clearer that it means “the supporters’ team”.

Why is equipa feminine (a equipa) and not masculine like “team”?

In Portuguese, each noun has a grammatical gender that doesn’t always match English.

equipa is feminine → a equipa, uma equipa, a sua equipa
plural: as equipas

This is just a property of the word, not based on the gender of the people in the team.

Some other common feminine sports words:

a bola – the ball
a baliza – the goal (physical goal structure)

Why is it equipa and not time or equipe?

This is a difference between European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP):

In Portugal, the usual word is equipa (with a at the end).
In Brazil, people normally say time (from English “team”).
equipe in Brazil usually means a work team / technical staff, not a sports team.

So:

Portugal: a equipa de futebol – the football team
Brazil: o time de futebol – the football team

The sentence is explicitly in European Portuguese, so equipa is correct.

What’s the difference between golo and gol?

Both mean goal (in football):

golo – standard and normal in European Portuguese
gol – standard and normal in Brazilian Portuguese

Examples:

Portugal: O jogador marcou um golo.
Brazil: O jogador fez um gol. / O jogador marcou um gol.

If you’re learning Portuguese from Portugal, use golo.

Why is it um golo (“a goal”) and not o golo (“the goal”)?

Um golo here is indefinite: any goal, whenever it happens.

The sentence describes a general, habitual action:

“Supporters sing when their team scores a goal (whenever that happens).”

If you said o golo, it would sound like a specific goal already known in the context, e.g.:

Os adeptos cantam quando a sua equipa marca o golo da vitória.
– The supporters sing when their team scores the winning goal.

So um golo fits the generic “any goal” idea.

Why is cantam in the present tense? In English we might say “the supporters sing when their team scores”.

Portuguese uses the simple present to talk about:

habits
general truths
regular behavior

So:

Os adeptos cantam quando a sua equipa marca um golo.
– literally: “The supporters sing when their team scores a goal.”

This matches English simple present:

“The supporters sing when their team scores a goal.”

You could also say in Portuguese:

Os adeptos cantam quando a sua equipa marca golos.
– highlighting that this is something they do every time goals are scored, in general.

The simple present is the normal choice here.

Could I say estão a cantar instead of cantam?

You can, but the meaning changes slightly:

Os adeptos cantam… – describes a habitual or repeated action
Os adeptos estão a cantar… – describes something happening right now / at this moment

So:

Os adeptos estão a cantar porque a sua equipa marcou um golo.
– The supporters are singing because their team scored a goal.

In your original sentence, we’re describing what usually happens when a goal is scored, so the simple present (cantam, marca) is better.

How are cantar and marcar conjugated in the present for eles (they)?

Both cantar and marcar are regular -ar verbs.

Present tense endings for -ar verbs (indicative):

eu: -o → canto, marco
tu: -as → cantas, marcas
ele/ela/você: -a → canta, marca
nós: -amos → cantamos, marcamos
vocês/eles/elas: -am → cantam, marcam

In the sentence:

Os adeptos cantam – they sing
a sua equipa marca – it (the team) scores

Why is it quando a sua equipa marca um golo and not something like se a sua equipa marcar?

Quando and se both can talk about conditions, but they feel different:

quando = when(ever) → suggests it will or does happen
se = if → more hypothetical / uncertain

So:

Os adeptos cantam quando a sua equipa marca um golo.
– Whenever their team scores, they sing (this is their usual behavior).

Compare with:

Os adeptos cantam se a sua equipa marcar um golo.
– The supporters will sing if their team scores a goal (it’s a possibility/condition, maybe talking about a future match).

Your sentence is describing a regular pattern, so quando fits better.

Can I change the word order in quando a sua equipa marca um golo?

In practice, you normally keep this straightforward word order:

quando + subject + verb + object
quando a sua equipa marca um golo

Other orders are possible but sound either emphatic or unnatural in everyday speech. For example:

Quando marca um golo a sua equipa – possible in very formal or literary style, but unusual in normal conversation.

So the original order is the natural one.

How do I pronounce os adeptos in Portugal?

In European Portuguese, some sounds are reduced or weakened:

os adeptos is often pronounced more like:
- [uz ɐˈdɛptuʃ] or very close to “uz adeptush”
Key points:
- os → usually sounds like uz before a word starting with a vowel or voiced consonant
- final -os (in adeptos) often sounds like -ush: adeptush
- e in unstressed syllables (like the first e in adeptos) is reduced, almost like the a in English “sofa”

You don’t need to produce this perfectly at first, but be aware that the spoken form is more compressed than the spelling suggests.