Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado, ficou rouca durante quase uma semana.

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

• a Maria
• o João
• a Ana

This does not make the name sound strange or overly formal; it is just normal usage in many contexts.

So Quando a Maria... is a very natural way to say When Maria... in Portugal.

A learner should know:

• In European Portuguese, this is extremely common.
• In Brazilian Portuguese, people also use it in many regions, but usage varies more.
• You do not usually translate the article into English.

Both are possible in Portuguese, but they mean slightly different things.

• teve gripe = had the flu / came down with the flu as a completed event in the past
• tinha gripe = had the flu / was suffering from the flu as background description or an ongoing state

In this sentence, teve is in the pretérito perfeito (simple preterite), which presents the flu as a finished past event connected to a specific time: no inverno passado.

So:

• Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado...
  = speaking about that particular past episode

If you said:

• Quando a Maria tinha gripe...

it would sound more like you are describing a situation that was in progress, rather than pointing to that single completed episode.

Ficar + adjective is a very common structure in Portuguese and often means to become or to end up in a certain state.

So:

• ficou rouca = she became hoarse / she ended up hoarse

This is different from simply describing a state with estar:

• estava rouca = she was hoarse
• ficou rouca = she became hoarse

In this sentence, the idea is that after or during that illness, Maria ended up with a hoarse voice for almost a week.

Because the adjective agrees with Maria, who is feminine.

• masculine singular: rouco
• feminine singular: rouca
• masculine plural: roucos
• feminine plural: roucas

Since Maria is female:

• A Maria ficou rouca.

This is standard adjective agreement in Portuguese.

The second verb, ficou, still refers to the same subject: a Maria.

Portuguese often omits the repeated subject when it is clear from the context:

• Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado, ficou rouca...

The full version would be:

• Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado, a Maria ficou rouca...

But that sounds repetitive and unnatural. Portuguese, like English, usually avoids repeating the subject when it is obvious.

No. Gripe means flu, not a cold.

• gripe = flu
• constipação or constipado/a = cold in European Portuguese

This is important because English speakers often confuse illness vocabulary.

So:

• teve gripe = had the flu
• not had a cold

Also, in Portugal, constipado/a means having a cold, not constipated.

With illnesses, Portuguese often uses the noun without an article in this kind of sentence:

• ter gripe
• ter febre
• ter tosse

So teve gripe is the natural wording here.

Using a gripe can happen in some contexts, but it often sounds more specific, as if referring to that flu or the flu in a more definite way. In this sentence, the general illness is meant, so teve gripe is the normal choice.

No is a contraction of:

• em + o = no

So:

• no inverno passado = in the winter that passed / last winter

Breakdown:

• em = in
• o inverno = the winter
• passado = past / last

In Portuguese, passado often comes after the noun:

• o inverno passado = last winter
• a semana passada = last week
• o ano passado = last year

So the phrase literally looks like in the past winter, but naturally it means last winter.

In Portuguese, adjectives can come before or after the noun, but many time expressions normally use the adjective after the noun:

• semana passada = last week
• mês passado = last month
• ano passado = last year
• inverno passado = last winter

So this is the standard, natural word order.

You may sometimes see alternatives like o passado inverno, but that is much less common and sounds more literary or formal.

Both verbs are in the pretérito perfeito because the sentence describes completed past events.

• teve = she had
• ficou = she became / was

The speaker is talking about a finished situation in the past:

1. Maria had the flu
2. she became/was hoarse for nearly a week

Portuguese often uses the pretérito perfeito this way when narrating events that happened at a specific time and are now finished.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• ficou rouca = she became hoarse / ended up hoarse
• estava rouca = she was hoarse

So:

• Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado, ficou rouca durante quase uma semana.
  This emphasizes the result or change of state.

• Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado, estava rouca durante quase uma semana.
  This simply describes her condition during that time.

Both are possible, but ficou rouca is especially natural if you want to highlight that the flu caused the hoarseness.

Durante means for or during, depending on the context.

Here:

• durante quase uma semana = for almost a week

It expresses duration.

Breakdown:

• durante = for / during
• quase = almost
• uma semana = a week

So the phrase tells us how long Maria was hoarse.

You could also hear por quase uma semana in some contexts, but durante is perfectly natural here.

Quase usually comes directly before the quantity or expression it modifies.

So:

• quase uma semana = almost a week

That is why the sentence says:

• durante quase uma semana

and not something like:

• durante uma quase semana ✗

The word quase naturally comes before the time expression.

The first part of the sentence is a subordinate clause introduced by Quando:

• Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado

Then the main clause follows:

• ficou rouca durante quase uma semana

In Portuguese, when a subordinate clause comes before the main clause, a comma is normally used to separate them.

So the comma helps mark the structure clearly:

• When Maria had the flu last winter, she was/became hoarse for almost a week.

In general, quando can mean either when or whenever, depending on context.

In this sentence, because we have a specific past event:

• no inverno passado
• teve
• ficou

the meaning is clearly when, referring to one particular time.

So here:

• Quando a Maria teve gripe no inverno passado... = When Maria had the flu last winter...

not Whenever Maria had the flu...

Yes, it is very natural.

Several features are especially typical and natural in Portuguese from Portugal:

• a Maria with the article before the name
• teve gripe for had the flu
• ficou rouca for a resulting condition
• no inverno passado for last winter

So this is a good, idiomatic example of everyday European Portuguese.