O ás ganhou a ronda.

The accent shows that ás is stressed and helps distinguish it from as.

• ás = ace
• as = the (feminine plural article), as in as cartas = the cards

In ás, the stress is on the only syllable. The accent makes the word clear in writing.

Portuguese often uses the definite article with nouns where English might not.

So:

• o ás = the ace

In a card-game context, this is very natural. It refers to a specific ace, not just any ace.

Grammatical gender in Portuguese does not always depend on the ending.

The noun ás is masculine, so it takes:

• o ás = the ace

You simply have to learn its gender as part of the word. The ending -s does not make it feminine or plural here.

Ganhou is the 3rd person singular preterite of ganhar.

So it means:

• he won
• she won
• it won

In this sentence, the subject is o ás, so ganhou means won in the sense of a completed action in the past.

Because the sentence talks about a completed past event.

• ganha = wins / is winning depending on context
• ganhou = won

So:

• O ás ganha a ronda. = The ace wins the round. / The ace is winning the round.
• O ás ganhou a ronda. = The ace won the round.

The infinitive is ganhar, which means to win or sometimes to earn, depending on context.

Some examples:

• ganhar dinheiro = to earn money
• ganhar o jogo = to win the game

Here it clearly means to win.

Because ronda is a feminine noun.

So:

• a ronda = the round

The article has to agree with the noun’s gender:

• o for masculine singular
• a for feminine singular

Not always. Ronda can have different meanings depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• round in a game
• patrol
• rounds in the sense of going around places

In this sentence, because of ás and ganhou, the card-game meaning round is the natural one.

In European Portuguese, ás is pronounced roughly like ash, but shorter and sharper.

A rough guide:

• ás ≈ ash

The final s is pronounced like sh at the end of a word in this context.

A rough pronunciation is:

• ganhou ≈ guh-NYOH

A few useful points:

• nh sounds like ny in canyon
• the final ou in European Portuguese is often pronounced like ô / oh

So ganhou has a very characteristic Portuguese sound: ga-NHOU.

This is the normal word order in Portuguese:

• subject + verb + object

So:

• O ás = subject
• ganhou = verb
• a ronda = object

Literally:

• The ace won the round

This is the most neutral and natural order.

Yes. Ás can also mean an expert, a star, or someone exceptionally good at something.

For example:

• Ele é um ás da informática. = He’s a whiz at computing.

But in O ás ganhou a ronda, the game context strongly suggests ace.

The plural is usually ases.

So:

• o ás = the ace
• os ases = the aces

This is useful because ás looks a bit unusual, and learners often expect the plural to be the same, but it is not.

Yes. This sentence matches English very closely.

Word by word:

• O = The
• ás = ace
• ganhou = won
• a ronda = the round

So The ace won the round is an excellent translation.