Ontem, a minha afilhada caiu do escorrega, mas levantou-se logo e voltou ao baloiço.

In European Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article before a possessive:

• a minha afilhada = my goddaughter
• o meu irmão = my brother
• a nossa casa = our house

For a native speaker of European Portuguese, a minha afilhada sounds very natural here.
Leaving out the article is sometimes possible, but it is less typical in standard European Portuguese than in English.

Afilhada means goddaughter.

It is the feminine form of:

• afilhado = godson
• afilhada = goddaughter

So a minha afilhada means my goddaughter.

They are all in the pretérito perfeito, which is the normal past tense for completed actions.

Here, the sentence tells a sequence of finished events that happened yesterday:

• caiu = fell
• levantou-se = got up
• voltou = went back / returned

This tense is very common in storytelling and narration.

Because Portuguese uses cair de to mean fall from something.

Here:

• de + o = do
• so do escorrega literally means from the slide

Similar examples:

• caiu da cadeira = fell from the chair
• caiu do muro = fell from the wall

So caiu do escorrega is the natural way to say fell off the slide.

In European Portuguese, escorrega is a common word for a playground slide.

So:

• escorrega = slide
• baloiço = swing

A learner may also come across other words in other varieties of Portuguese, but in Portugal escorrega is perfectly normal.

Because the verb here is levantar-se, which means to get up.

The se is part of the verb in this meaning. In European Portuguese, in a normal affirmative sentence, these pronouns usually come after the verb:

• levantou-se = got up
• sentou-se = sat down
• deitou-se = lay down / went to bed

This is called enclisis, and the hyphen is required in writing.

Compare:

• Levantou-se logo. = She got up right away.
• Não se levantou logo. = She did not get up right away.

After não, the pronoun moves before the verb.

Here logo means right away, immediately, or soon after.

So:

• levantou-se logo = got up right away

This is a very common word in Portuguese, especially in everyday speech.

Important for English speakers: logo here does not mean a company symbol. It is an adverb of time.

Because voltar a means to return to or to go back to something.

Here:

• a + o = ao
• ao baloiço = to the swing

So:

• voltou ao baloiço = went back to the swing

This is a very natural construction in Portuguese.

In European Portuguese, baloiço means swing.

So in playground vocabulary:

• escorrega = slide
• baloiço = swing

This is a very useful European Portuguese word, because it may differ from words learners have seen in Brazilian Portuguese.

Because Portuguese often leaves out the subject pronoun when it is already clear.

The subject is a minha afilhada, and all three verbs refer to the same person:

• caiu
• levantou-se
• voltou

So there is no need to repeat ela.

English usually repeats the subject more often, but Portuguese often avoids that repetition when the meaning is obvious.

Yes. Ontem is flexible.

Possible positions include:

• Ontem, a minha afilhada caiu do escorrega...
• A minha afilhada caiu do escorrega ontem...

Putting Ontem at the beginning is very natural because it sets the scene straight away.
The comma after Ontem is also normal when this time expression comes first.

Portuguese very often contracts prepositions with articles.

Here:

• de + o = do
• a + o = ao

So:

• do escorrega = from the slide
• ao baloiço = to the swing

These contractions are extremely common and are something English speakers need to get used to early on.