No talho, a senhora disse que a carne estava fresca e cortou-a em fatias finas.

Because no is the contraction of em + o.

• em = in / at
• o = the
• em o → no

So:

• no talho = in the butcher’s shop / at the butcher’s

This kind of contraction is very common in Portuguese:

• em + a = na
• em + os = nos
• em + as = nas

In European Portuguese, talho is the usual word for butcher’s shop.

In Brazilian Portuguese, açougue is much more common.

So for Portugal:

• talho = normal, everyday word

This is a vocabulary difference between the two varieties.

Portuguese often uses the definite article before nouns like senhor, senhora, and many personal titles in normal speech.

So:

• a senhora disse... = the lady said...

This sounds natural in Portuguese. English often leaves the article out in similar cases, but Portuguese frequently keeps it.

Because fresca agrees with a carne.

• carne is feminine singular
• adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe

So:

• carne fresca = fresh meat
• pão fresco = fresh bread

Here:

• a carne estava fresca

because both carne and fresca are feminine singular.

Because estar is commonly used for a temporary condition or state, and fresca here describes the condition of the meat.

So:

• a carne estava fresca = the meat was fresh

Using ser here would sound wrong or unnatural in this context. Ser is generally used for more permanent characteristics, classification, identity, and similar ideas.

For food condition, Portuguese usually uses estar:

• O peixe está fresco.
• A sopa está quente.

Estava is the imperfect tense. Here it presents the meat’s freshness as a background state at the time the lady spoke.

• disse que a carne estava fresca = she said that the meat was fresh

This is very natural after a past reporting verb like disse.

Very roughly:

• estava = was / was being
• esteve = was, but as a completed event or bounded situation

In this sentence, the focus is not on the meat being fresh for a completed period, but on its condition at that moment, so estava fits best.

Because que introduces the content of what she said.

• disse que... = said that...

So:

• A senhora disse que a carne estava fresca. = The lady said that the meat was fresh.

In English, that is often optional. In Portuguese, que is very commonly used.

The -a is a direct object pronoun meaning it, and it refers to a carne.

So:

• cortou-a = cut it

Since carne is feminine singular, the pronoun is a.

Related forms are:

• o = him / it (masculine singular)
• a = her / it (feminine singular)
• os = them (masculine plural)
• as = them (feminine plural)

In European Portuguese, object pronouns often come after the verb in affirmative main clauses. This is called enclisis.

So in European Portuguese:

• cortou-a = he/she cut it

The hyphen links the verb and the pronoun.

This is one of the big differences from Brazilian Portuguese, where a cortou or simply repeating the noun might be more likely in some contexts.

In this sentence, cortou-a is the standard European Portuguese pattern.

By default, the subject of cortou-a is understood to be the same person as before: a senhora.

Portuguese often omits subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context.

So the sentence naturally means:

• the lady said that the meat was fresh and cut it into thin slices

If the subject changed, Portuguese would usually make that clearer.

Because finas agrees with fatias.

• fatias is feminine plural
• so the adjective must also be feminine plural: finas

So:

• fatias finas = thin slices

Agreement works the same way as in:

• casas brancas
• camisas azuis

The structure cortar algo em fatias means to cut something into slices.

So:

• cortou-a em fatias finas = cut it into thin slices

Here:

• cortou = cut
• -a = it
• em fatias = into slices
• finas = thin

This is a very normal pattern in Portuguese.

Because disse que normally reports information as a statement, so the indicative is used.

Here:

• disse que a carne estava fresca

This is standard reported speech. The speaker is reporting what was said, not expressing doubt, desire, emotion, or unreality in a way that would normally trigger the subjunctive.

So estava in the indicative is the expected form here.

In careful speech, yes, both parts are present:

• cortou-a

But in natural European Portuguese, the pronunciation may sound quite smooth and compressed, with the two vowels flowing together.

What matters most for a learner is:

• the pronoun is still there
• it is attached to the verb
• in writing, the hyphen is required

So even if fast speech makes it sound a bit blended, grammatically it is still cortou + a.