O seguro de viagem cobre o cancelamento do voo e o reembolso da bagagem perdida.

The travel insurance covers the cancellation of the flight and the refund of lost luggage.

Breakdown of O seguro de viagem cobre o cancelamento do voo e o reembolso da bagagem perdida.

• de: of
• e: and
• o seguro: the insurance
• a viagem: the trip
• perdido: lost
• cobrir: to cover
• o voo: the flight
• a bagagem: the luggage
• o cancelamento: the cancellation
• o reembolso: the refund

Questions & Answers about O seguro de viagem cobre o cancelamento do voo e o reembolso da bagagem perdida.

In seguro de viagem, what is the role of de viagem? Is it like an adjective?

Yes, de viagem is functioning like an adjective.

• seguro = insurance
• viagem = trip / journey
• seguro de viagem = travel insurance

Portuguese often uses the pattern noun + de + noun where English would use an adjective:

• bilhete de avião = plane ticket
• sapatos de desporto = sports shoes
• seguro de saúde = health insurance

So de viagem specifies the type of insurance; it’s not agreeing in gender/number with seguro, because it’s a separate noun linked by de, not a normal adjective.

Why is it O seguro de viagem and not just Seguro de viagem, like English “Travel insurance covers …”?

Portuguese uses definite articles much more than English, especially with general nouns as subjects.

• O seguro de viagem cobre…
  = Travel insurance covers… (in general)

Leaving out the article (Seguro de viagem cobre…) sounds incomplete or like a headline in very telegraphic style. In normal speech and writing, you would keep O here.

You might drop the article only in things like labels, menus, or titles:

• Seguro de viagem – condições gerais (on a brochure heading)

What exactly are do and da in do voo and da bagagem?

do and da are contractions of the preposition de + the definite article:

• do = de + o (masculine singular)
• da = de + a (feminine singular)

In the sentence:

• do voo = de + o voo → of the flight
• da bagagem = de + a bagagem → of the baggage

You choose do or da according to the gender of the noun:

• o voo (masc.) → do voo
• a bagagem (fem.) → da bagagem

Why is voo written with two o’s and no accent?

Historically, it was written vôo (with an accent), but the Orthographic Agreement (1990) removed that accent. In modern European Portuguese:

• Correct: voo
• Old spelling: vôo

The two o’s are pronounced as a single long sound, roughly like the o in English “bowl” but shorter: [ˈvo.u] or in fast speech [ˈvo].

So the spelling shows a diphthong or long vowel, but there’s no accent because stress is already on the first syllable by default.

What verb is cobre, and what tense/person is it?

cobre is from the verb cobrir (to cover).

Here it is:

• 3rd person singular, present indicative
• subject: O seguro de viagem → ele cobre

So:

• (ele) cobre = (it) covers

Some useful forms:

• eu cubro – I cover
• tu cobres – you cover (informal singular)
• ele / ela / você cobre – he/she/you cover
• eles / elas / vocês cobrem – they/you (pl.) cover

In insurance contexts you’ll also often see:

• O seguro abrange… / O seguro inclui… = the insurance covers/includes…

Does cobre need a preposition, or is it just one verb with two direct objects here?

Here cobre takes direct objects, with no extra preposition:

• cobre [o cancelamento do voo] e [o reembolso da bagagem perdida].

Both o cancelamento do voo and o reembolso da bagagem perdida are direct objects of cobre, joined by e.

You do not say:

• ✗ cobre de o cancelamento
• ✗ cobre com o cancelamento

Those uses of cobrir (cobrir com = to cover with) are for physical covering, not for “insurance coverage”.

About repeating the article:

• Natural: cobre o cancelamento do voo e o reembolso da bagagem perdida.
• Possible but less natural in careful writing: cobre o cancelamento do voo e reembolso da bagagem perdida.

Repeating o makes the two items feel more clearly parallel and is the safest choice.

Could I say cobre o voo cancelado instead of cobre o cancelamento do voo? What’s the difference?

You can say both, but they focus on slightly different things:

• cobre o cancelamento do voo
  = covers the act/event of cancelling the flight
  (typical insurance language; it’s about costs caused by the cancellation)

• cobre o voo cancelado
  = covers the cancelled flight itself
  (grammatical, but less standard as a policy phrase)

Insurance documents usually talk about o cancelamento do voo, o atraso do voo, etc., because they’re covering situations/events, not the physical “flight” as an object.

Why is it reembolso da bagagem perdida and not something like reembolso pela bagagem perdida or reembolso de bagagem perdida?

All of these structures can exist, but they are not equivalent:

1. reembolso da bagagem perdida

   • Literally: reimbursement of the lost baggage
   • Interpreted as: reimbursement of the value/cost of that baggage.
   • Very natural in insurance language.

2. reembolso de bagagem perdida

   • More generic, like reimbursement of lost baggage (no specific baggage in mind).
   • Possible but less specific than da bagagem perdida.

3. reembolso pela bagagem perdida

   • Literally: reimbursement because of the lost baggage.
   • Grammatically possible, but this por/pela pattern is more common with words like indemnização:
     
     • indemnização pela bagagem perdida = compensation for the lost baggage
   • With reembolso, de/da is much more idiomatic.

So o reembolso da bagagem perdida is the standard-sounding option here.

What exactly is perdida doing grammatically in da bagagem perdida?

perdida is the past participle of perder (to lose), used as an adjective.

• a bagagem (feminine singular)
• perdida (feminine singular participle/adjective)

It agrees in gender and number with bagagem:

• a mala perdida – the lost suitcase
• as malas perdidas – the lost suitcases
• a bagagem perdida – the lost baggage

It functions just like a normal adjective placed after the noun, specifying which baggage is being talked about.

Why is it bagagem (singular) and not bagagens (plural)?

In travel contexts, bagagem is usually treated as a mass/collective noun, like English baggage or luggage:

• a bagagem = all the bags/suitcases as a unit

You would use bagagens when you’re emphasizing separate sets or multiple “loads” of baggage, for example across people or trips:

• As bagagens dos passageiros foram inspeccionadas.
  = The passengers’ baggages were inspected.

For ordinary insurance and airport language, bagagem in the singular is the normal choice:

• bagagem perdida – lost baggage
• bagagem de porão – checked baggage
• bagagem de mão – hand luggage / carry-on baggage

How would a European Portuguese speaker pronounce the whole sentence?

In European Portuguese, a careful IPA transcription would be approximately:

• O seguro de viagem cobre o cancelamento do voo e o reembolso da bagagem perdida.
  → [u sɨˈɡuɾu dɨ viˈaʒɐ̃j̃ ˈkɔβɾɨ u kɐnsɨlɐ̃ˈmẽtu du ˈvo.u i u ʁɐj̃ˈbõlsu dɐ bɐˈɣaʒɐ̃j̃ pɨɾˈdiðɐ]

Very rough “English-style” guide:

• O seguro → “oo sɨ-GOO-roo”
• de viagem → “dɨ vee-AH-zheng” (final -em is nasal, not a full “m”)
• cobre → “KOH-bri”
• o cancelamento → “oo kun-sɨ-lɐ-MEN-tu”
• do voo → “du VO” (one long “o”)
• e o reembolso → “ee oo hay-IM-bol-su” (initial r is guttural)
• da bagagem → “dɐ bɐ-GA-zheng” (nasal -em)
• perdida → “pɨr-DEE-dɐ”

Connected speech will compress some vowels, but this gives you a good approximation.