O professor fez a turma preparar um pequeno cartaz com cola, clips e uma régua.

Yes, fazer often means to do or to make, but in this sentence it is being used in a very common causative structure:

fazer + someone + infinitive

So O professor fez a turma preparar... means:

The teacher made / had the class prepare...

Here, fez does not mean that the teacher personally prepared the poster. It means the teacher caused or got the class to do it.

A very natural English equivalent is:

• The teacher had the class prepare...
• The teacher made the class prepare...

Because after fazer in this causative structure, Portuguese uses the infinitive, not another fully conjugated verb.

So the pattern is:

fazer + object + infinitive

Examples:

• O professor fez a turma preparar um cartaz.
• A mãe fez o filho estudar.
• Eles fizeram-nos esperar.

So preparar stays in the infinitive because it depends on fez.

A turma usually means the class, the group of students, or the school class.

In this sentence, it refers to the students as a group:

• O professor fez a turma preparar...
• The teacher had the class prepare...

In Portugal Portuguese, turma is very common for a class/group of students. Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• the class
• the students
• the group

Portuguese uses definite articles much more often than English.

So where English says:

• the class

Portuguese says:

• a turma

That is perfectly normal. In fact, Portuguese often needs the article where English might not use one in other contexts.

Here a turma is the direct object of fez:

• O professor = the subject
• fez = the verb
• a turma = the thing/person affected
• preparar... = what the class was made to do

Um is the indefinite article, meaning a or an.

So:

• um cartaz = a poster
• um pequeno cartaz = a small poster

Portuguese nouns usually need an article in contexts like this, just as English does.

Both are possible, but the position of the adjective can slightly affect the tone or emphasis.

• um pequeno cartaz often sounds more natural and can feel a bit more descriptive or subjective: a small poster
• um cartaz pequeno sounds more literally size-focused: a poster that is small

In everyday language, many adjectives can go either before or after the noun, but the most natural choice depends on the adjective and the nuance. Here, um pequeno cartaz is very natural.

Usually, yes: cartaz means poster, sign, or sometimes display poster, depending on context.

In a school context like this, um pequeno cartaz is most naturally:

• a small poster
• a small sign/poster

It is not usually the same as a long written essay or report. It suggests something visual, something you might make with paper and craft materials.

This is because Portuguese often treats some items as materials/substances or as plural items in a general sense, while a singular countable object often takes an article.

So:

• cola = glue as a material, so no article is needed
• clips = paper clips in a general sense, so no article is needed
• uma régua = a ruler, one specific countable object

So the phrase means something like:

• with glue, paper clips, and a ruler

If the speaker wanted to be more specific, articles could appear:

• com a cola, os clips e a régua = with the glue, the paper clips, and the ruler

But in your sentence, it sounds like a simple list of materials/tools.

Yes. Com here means with, introducing the materials or tools used.

So preparar um pequeno cartaz com cola, clips e uma régua means they prepared the poster using glue, paper clips, and a ruler.

This phrase attaches naturally to preparar um pequeno cartaz.

Good question. Clips is a borrowed word. In European Portuguese, people do use clip/clips in everyday language for small paper clips or similar fasteners, although spelling and usage can vary.

You may also come across:

• clipe / clipes in some varieties or dictionaries
• more specific expressions depending on the object meant

In this sentence, clips is understandable and natural enough as a modern borrowed form.

Yes, and the meaning would be similar, though the nuance changes slightly.

• O professor fez a turma preparar... = The teacher made / had the class prepare...
• O professor mandou a turma preparar... = The teacher told / ordered the class to prepare...

So:

• fez focuses on causing the action to happen
• mandou focuses more on giving the instruction or order

Both are natural, but fez is especially useful for the causative idea.

Yes, it is very typical.

The structure is:

O professor
(subject)

fez
(main verb in the past)

a turma
(object of fez)

preparar um pequeno cartaz
(infinitive phrase showing what the class was made to do)

com cola, clips e uma régua
(phrase showing tools/materials)

So this is a very standard Portuguese sentence pattern.

Fez is the 3rd person singular of fazer in the pretérito perfeito simples, which corresponds here to the English simple past:

• ele fez = he did / he made
• here: O professor fez... = The teacher made / had...

So the sentence refers to a completed action in the past.

Then the sentence would usually use an object pronoun, and in European Portuguese that can create a slightly different structure.

For example:

• O professor fê-la preparar um pequeno cartaz.

Here, la refers to a feminine singular noun like a turma.

However, this kind of pronoun placement and form can feel more advanced, especially because fez changes to fê- before attached pronouns.

For learners, it is often easier first to understand the full noun version:

• O professor fez a turma preparar...

and only later learn the pronoun version.