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Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé ao descer as escadas do estádio.

Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé ao descer as escadas do estádio.
Yesterday Pedro twisted his foot while going down the stadium stairs.
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Questions & Answers about Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé ao descer as escadas do estádio.

Why is there an article before the name: “o Pedro” instead of just “Pedro”?

In European Portuguese, it’s very common to use the definite article before a person’s name:

  • o Pedro – Pedro
  • a Maria – Maria

This is normal, neutral Portuguese in Portugal. It doesn’t usually carry extra meaning; it’s just how people commonly speak.

You can say “Ontem Pedro torceu o pé…”, but in everyday speech in Portugal, “Ontem o Pedro…” sounds more natural. In Brazilian Portuguese the article before names is much less common and can even sound regional or informal, but in Portugal it’s standard.

Why is it “torceu o pé” and not something like “torceu o seu pé” (“sprained his foot”)?

Portuguese often omits possessive adjectives with body parts (and clothes) when it’s clear whose body we’re talking about. The subject tells you whose body part it is.

So:

  • O Pedro torceu o pé.
    Literally: “Pedro sprained the foot.”
    Meaning: “Pedro sprained his foot.”

If we added “seu”:

  • O Pedro torceu o seu pé. – Grammatically correct, but sounds a bit heavy or emphatic in this context.

In neutral, everyday European Portuguese, “torceu o pé” is exactly how you’d say “sprained his foot.”

Why is it “torceu o pé” (sprained the foot) and not “torceu o tornozelo” (sprained the ankle)?

Literally:

  • pé = foot
  • tornozelo = ankle

In everyday speech, Portuguese speakers sometimes use “pé” loosely to refer to the lower part of the leg including the ankle, especially in casual conversation. It’s a bit like English people saying “I hurt my foot” even if it’s around the ankle.

If you want to be more anatomically precise:

  • O Pedro torceu o tornozelo. – “Pedro sprained his ankle.”

But “torcer o pé” is very common and perfectly natural.

What tense is “torceu”, and how is the verb “torcer” conjugated?

“Torceu” is the pretérito perfeito (simple past) of torcer for ele/ela/você:

  • eu torci – I twisted/sprained
  • tu torceste – you twisted/sprained (informal singular)
  • ele / ela / você torceu – he/she/you twisted/sprained
  • nós torcemos – we twisted/sprained
  • vocês torceram – you (plural) twisted/sprained
  • eles / elas torceram – they twisted/sprained

In this sentence, “o Pedro torceu o pé” = “Pedro sprained his foot.”

Pronunciation note (European Portuguese):

  • torceu ≈ “tor-SEW” (with a slightly closed “e” sound and final -eu like English “ehw”).
Why is it “ao descer” and not just “a descer” or “quando descia”?

“Ao descer” is a very common structure in European Portuguese:

  • ao + infinitivo = “when / while / upon doing [something]”

So:

  • ao descer as escadas
    ≈ “when he was going down the stairs” / “while going down the stairs” / “as he went down the stairs”

About the alternatives:

  1. “a descer”

    • Está a descer as escadas. – “He is going down the stairs.” (present progressive in EU PT)
    • In this sentence, we need a time clause, so “ao descer” (“when he was going down”) fits better than “a descer”.

  2. “quando descia as escadas”

    • Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé quando descia as escadas. – also correct.
    • This uses imperfeito (descia), which often describes background or ongoing action.
    • “Ao descer” is a bit more compact and very idiomatic.

In short: “ao descer” is the natural, idiomatic way to say “when/while going down” here.

What exactly does “ao descer” mean grammatically? Where does the “o” in “ao” come from?

“Ao” is a contraction of:

  • a (preposition “to/at”) + o (masculine singular definite article “the”).

Historically, “ao + infinitivo” came from “to the act of doing X”, as if the verb was a noun. In modern Portuguese, you don’t really “feel” that structure anymore; “ao + infinitivo” is just a fixed pattern that means:

  • “when/while/upon doing [verb]”

So:

  • ao descer – when/while going down
  • ao sair de casa – when/while leaving home
  • ao entrar no carro – when/while getting into the car

You can think of “ao + infinitivo” as a special time expression, not as literally “to the [verb].”

Why do we say “descer as escadas” and not “descer as escadas do estádio” in a different order, like in English “the stadium stairs”?

Actually, the Portuguese sentence does say that:

  • descer as escadas do estádio
    = go down the stadium’s stairs / the stairs of the stadium

Structure:

  • as escadas – the stairs
  • do estádio – of the stadium (de + o estádio)

Word order is similar to English “the stairs of the stadium,” just with the possessive phrase after the noun, which is normal in Portuguese:

  • as escadas do estádio – “the stadium’s stairs / the stairs of the stadium”
Why is it “as escadas” (plural) and not something like “a escada” (singular)?

In Portuguese, “escada” can be:

  • a escada – a single ladder, or sometimes a whole staircase
  • as escadas – “the stairs” (as a set of steps)

When talking about stairs in a building or stadium, the usual expression is:

  • subir as escadas – go up the stairs
  • descer as escadas – go down the stairs

So “as escadas do estádio” naturally means “the (set of) stairs in the stadium,” just like English uses the plural “the stairs.”

Why is it “do estádio” and not “de o estádio”?

Portuguese contracts many preposition + article combinations. Here:

  • de (of/from) + o (the, masculine singular)
    → do

So:

  • as escadas do estádio
    = as escadas de o estádio
    = “the stairs of the stadium”

Other common contractions:

  • em + o → no (no estádio – in the stadium)
  • a + a → à (à escola – to the school)
  • de + a → da (da escola – of the school)
Why is it “Ontem o Pedro…” and not “O Pedro ontem…”? Is the word order flexible?

Yes, the word order here is fairly flexible:

  • Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé ao descer as escadas do estádio.
  • O Pedro torceu o pé ontem ao descer as escadas do estádio.
  • O Pedro ontem torceu o pé ao descer as escadas do estádio.

All are grammatical. Putting “Ontem” at the beginning gives a bit of emphasis to when it happened, but the meaning is basically the same. Starting a sentence with a short time adverb like “Ontem” is very common and natural.

Should there be a comma after “Ontem”?

In Portuguese, a short adverb like “Ontem” at the beginning often appears without a comma, especially in simple sentences.

These are both acceptable:

  • Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé… – common, natural
  • Ontem, o Pedro torceu o pé… – also possible; the comma slightly separates the time frame.

In practice, many native speakers would omit the comma here in informal writing.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence in European Portuguese?

Approximate transcription (European Portuguese):

  • Ontem – [ON‑tẽ] (first syllable stressed; final -em is nasal)
  • o Pedro – [u PE‑dru] (stress on PE; final -o reduced, like “-u”)
  • torceu – [tor‑SEW] (stress on ceu; r slightly rolled or guttural)
  • o pé – [u PÉ] (short open é, stress on pé)
  • ao descer – [aw dɨ‑SER] (stress on ser; descer like “dɨ‑SEHR”)
  • as escadas – [az (i)SH‑KA‑dɐsh] (initial e often reduced, s between vowels → “z”, final -s as “sh”)
  • do estádio – [du SH‑TA‑dyu] (stress on TA; es‑ → “sh” sound, final -dio like “dyu”)

Said naturally:

  • Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé ao descer as escadas do estádio.
    [ON‑tẽ u PE‑dru tor‑SEW u PÉ aw dɨ‑SER az (i)SH‑KA‑dɐsh du SH‑TA‑dyu]
Is there any difference in meaning between this European Portuguese sentence and how Brazilians might say it?

The meaning is the same, but Brazilians might more naturally say:

  • Ontem o Pedro torceu o pé descendo as escadas do estádio.

Differences:

  • In Brazil, the gerúndio (-ndo form) is more common: “descendo as escadas” instead of “ao descer as escadas”.
  • The article before names (o Pedro) is less universal in Brazil, but still heard in some regions and in informal speech.
  • Pronunciation will be quite different (open vowels, clearer final syllables, etc.).

In Portugal, “ao descer as escadas” sounds very idiomatic and is probably the most typical version.