O para-brisas ficou tão molhado que tive de parar por um minuto.

Para-brisas means windshield or windscreen.

It is a compound noun:

• para = stops / protects against
• brisas = breezes

So the idea is something like breeze-blocker, though in real usage it simply means windshield.

It takes the masculine article o, so:

• o para-brisas = the windshield
• um para-brisas = a windshield

A useful detail: para-brisas usually stays the same in the plural:

• o para-brisas
• os para-brisas

Because para-brisas is a fixed compound noun in Portuguese, and these are often written with a hyphen.

You do not normally analyze it word by word when speaking; it functions as one lexical item, just like a single noun.

Other Portuguese compound nouns also use hyphens, so this is not unusual.

Ficou is the past tense of ficar, and here it means became or got.

So:

• o para-brisas ficou molhado = the windshield got wet / became wet

This is very common in Portuguese:

• ficar + adjective = to become / get + adjective

Examples:

• ficou cansado = he got tired
• ficou escuro = it got dark
• ficou pronto = it became ready / it was ready

So in this sentence, ficou emphasizes a change of state: the windshield was not like that before, and then it became very wet.

Because molhado agrees with o para-brisas, which is masculine singular.

In Portuguese, adjectives usually agree in gender and number with the noun they describe:

• masculine singular: molhado
• feminine singular: molhada
• masculine plural: molhados
• feminine plural: molhadas

Since para-brisas is masculine singular, the correct form is molhado.

Tão ... que means so ... that.

It is used to express degree and consequence:

• tão molhado que tive de parar
• so wet that I had to stop

This structure is very common:

• Estava tão cansado que fui para a cama. = He was so tired that he went to bed.
• Falou tão baixo que ninguém ouviu. = She spoke so quietly that nobody heard.

So in your sentence:

• tão molhado = so wet
• que tive de parar = that I had to stop

In European Portuguese, ter de + infinitive is generally the more standard and preferred way to express obligation.

So:

• tive de parar = I had to stop

You will also hear ter que in some varieties of Portuguese, especially in everyday speech and in Brazilian Portuguese, but in Portugal ter de is usually the safer choice for learners.

Examples:

• tenho de sair = I have to leave
• tive de esperar = I had to wait
• vamos ter de decidir = we will have to decide

Both are in the pretérito perfeito simples, which is the normal simple past tense in Portuguese.

Here:

• ficou = got / became
• tive = had

This tense is used for completed actions or events in the past.

So the sentence describes a completed situation:

1. the windshield got very wet
2. as a result, I had to stop for a minute

Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

Here, tive clearly means I had, so eu is not necessary.

Compare:

• tive de parar = I had to stop
• eu tive de parar = I had to stop

Both are correct, but the version without eu is more natural unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Eu tive de parar, mas ele continuou. = I had to stop, but he continued.

In this context, parar can mean to stop the car / stop driving, even without naming the vehicle.

That is very natural in Portuguese, just as in English you can say I had to stop and people understand that you mean stopping the vehicle or stopping your movement.

If you wanted to make it explicit, you could say:

• tive de parar o carro = I had to stop the car

But it is not necessary here.

Por um minuto means for a minute and expresses duration.

So:

• parar por um minuto = to stop for a minute

In Portuguese, por is commonly used for lengths of time:

• por uma hora = for an hour
• por alguns segundos = for a few seconds
• por dois dias = for two days

Sometimes in everyday Portuguese, especially with short expressions of time, speakers may also omit por:

• parei um minuto

But por um minuto is completely correct and clear.

Yes, you could, but por um minuto sounds more natural in this sentence.

Both can refer to duration:

• parei por um minuto
• parei durante um minuto

The difference is mostly stylistic:

• por um minuto is simpler and very common in everyday speech
• durante um minuto can sound a little more formal or more explicitly focused on the whole duration

So for a learner, por um minuto is an excellent default choice here.

Yes, the clearest European Portuguese feature here is tive de parar.

In Portugal, ter de + infinitive is the standard way to say to have to do something:

• tenho de
• tinha de
• tive de

That makes the sentence sound very natural in Portuguese from Portugal.

The rest of the sentence is also perfectly normal in European Portuguese:

• o para-brisas
• ficou tão molhado que...
• por um minuto

Yes, a little, but the original order is very natural.

Original:

• O para-brisas ficou tão molhado que tive de parar por um minuto.

Possible variation:

• Tive de parar por um minuto porque o para-brisas ficou muito molhado.

The difference is mainly in focus:

• tão ... que highlights the consequence strongly: so wet that...
• porque simply gives the reason: because...

So the original sentence is especially good if you want to emphasize that the wet windshield directly caused the stop.