A fenda parece pequena, mas o pintor quer vê-la amanhã.

A is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• a fenda = the crack / the gap
• fenda by itself = crack / gap in a more general or dictionary-style sense

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a specific crack, so Portuguese uses a.

Also, fenda is a feminine noun, which is why the article is a, not o.

Because pequena has to agree with fenda.

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

• fenda = feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular: pequena

Compare:

• o buraco pequeno = the small hole
• a fenda pequena = the small crack

This kind of adjective agreement is very common in Portuguese.

Because parecer already means to seem / to appear and can be followed directly by an adjective.

So:

• A fenda parece pequena. = The crack seems small.

Portuguese does not need an extra verb like to be here.

Compare:

• é pequena = is small
• parece pequena = seems small

This works the same way with many adjectives:

• Ele parece cansado. = He seems tired.
• A casa parece velha. = The house seems old.

Parece is the 3rd person singular form of the verb parecer in the present tense.

The subject is A fenda, which is singular, so the verb must also be singular.

Conjugation of parecer in the present:

• eu pareço
• tu pareces
• ele/ela/você parece
• nós parecemos
• vós pareceis
• eles/elas/vocês parecem

So A fenda parece pequena is grammatically the same kind of structure as The crack seems small.

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

• pintor is a masculine noun
• so it takes o

Therefore:

• o pintor = the painter

If it were feminine, it would be:

• a pintora = the female painter

Portuguese uses articles very often, including before many common nouns where English sometimes uses none or is less consistent.

Because quer is the conjugated form, while querer is the infinitive.

Here, the subject is o pintor, so the verb must be conjugated:

• o pintor quer = the painter wants

The infinitive querer means to want, but after a subject you normally need the correct tense/person form:

• querer ver = to want to see
• o pintor quer ver = the painter wants to see

So quer is the present tense, 3rd person singular, of querer.

Vê-la means to see it or to see her, depending on what la refers to.

In this sentence, la refers back to a fenda, so it means to see it.

Breakdown:

• ver = to see
• a = her / it (direct object pronoun, feminine singular)

But because of the spelling rules used with infinitives ending in -r, ver + a becomes vê-la.

So:

• quer vê-la amanhã = wants to see it tomorrow

This is one of the most important parts of the sentence.

In standard Portuguese, when a verb ending in -r, -s, or -z is followed by the direct object pronouns o, a, os, as, two things happen:

1. the final consonant drops
2. the pronoun changes to lo, la, los, las

So:

• ver + a → ve-la would be the basic result after dropping r
• but Portuguese spelling adds the accent: vê-la

Why the accent?
Because when the r disappears, the stressed vowel needs to be marked in writing.

Other examples:

• comer + o → comê-lo = to eat it
• fazer + a → fazê-la = to do/make it
• ver + o → vê-lo = to see it
• ver + a → vê-la = to see it

The hyphen is standard in this kind of clitic attachment.

Because ela is a subject pronoun, not the normal direct object pronoun in standard Portuguese grammar.

For a direct object like it referring to a fenda, Portuguese normally uses a clitic pronoun:

• a → and after ver, this becomes -la
• so: vê-la

Standard Portuguese prefers:

• quer vê-la = wants to see it

Using ver ela is generally not the standard choice here. A learner should strongly prefer vê-la in formal and careful Portuguese, especially European Portuguese.

Because with a structure like querer + infinitive, the object of the second verb usually attaches to that infinitive.

Here, the thing being seen is the crack, so the pronoun belongs with ver, not with querer:

• quer vê-la = wants to see it

The pronoun is linked to the action of seeing, not to the action of wanting.

This is very natural in Portuguese, especially in European Portuguese.

It is a direct object pronoun.

The verb ver takes a direct object: you see something.

So:

• ver a fenda = to see the crack
• vê-la = to see it

It is not an indirect object, so you would not use lhe here.

Compare:

• Vejo a fenda. = I see the crack.
• Vejo-a. = I see it.

Yes, amanhã can move, but the position at the end is very natural.

In this sentence:

• A fenda parece pequena, mas o pintor quer vê-la amanhã.

amanhã modifies the idea of seeing. It tells you when the painter wants to see it.

Other possible positions are:

• Amanhã, o pintor quer vê-la.
• O pintor quer amanhã vê-la.
  This is possible, but less natural for most learners.
• O pintor quer vê-la amanhã.
  This is the most straightforward and natural option.

So the end position is common and easy to understand.

Yes, the use of the clitic form vê-la is very much part of standard Portuguese and is especially important to get used to in European Portuguese.

European Portuguese strongly preserves these object-pronoun patterns in everyday grammar:

• vi-o = I saw him/it
• quero vê-la = I want to see her/it
• vou fazê-lo = I’m going to do it

So for a learner of Portuguese from Portugal, quer vê-la amanhã is exactly the kind of structure you should become comfortable with.