A mulher somou a pontuação.

Because both nouns are feminine singular.

• a mulher = the woman
• a pontuação = the score / the points total

In Portuguese, nouns usually need an article more often than in English, especially in simple statements like this one. Here, both a words are definite articles, meaning the, not a/an.

So:

• a mulher = the woman
• uma mulher = a woman

Somou is the pretérito perfeito do indicativo, which is usually translated as the simple past in English.

It comes from the verb somar = to add, to total, to add up.

So:

• eu somei = I added up
• tu somaste
• ele/ela/você somou = he/she/you added up

In this sentence, somou means added up / totaled.

Because somou refers to a completed action in the past.

• A mulher soma a pontuação. = The woman adds up the score. / The woman is in the habit of adding up the score.
• A mulher somou a pontuação. = The woman added up the score.

So soma is present tense, while somou is past tense.

Here, pontuação means score, scoring, or points total.

Depending on context, pontuação can also mean punctuation in writing. That sometimes surprises learners.

So the word has at least these common meanings:

• pontuação = score / points
• pontuação = punctuation

In this sentence, because of the verb somou, the meaning is clearly about adding up a score or points.

Because Portuguese often does not need a subject pronoun when the subject is already stated or clear.

Here, the subject is already given as A mulher, so adding ela would be unnecessary:

• A mulher somou a pontuação. = natural
• Ela somou a pontuação. = also correct, if the woman was already understood from context

Portuguese is a language where subject pronouns are often omitted unless needed for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

In this sentence, A mulher most naturally means the woman — a specific woman.

If you wanted to talk about women in general, Portuguese often uses the singular definite article too, but the meaning depends on context:

• A mulher trabalha muito. can mean Women work hard or The woman works hard, depending on context.

But in A mulher somou a pontuação, it sounds like a specific woman did a specific action.

In European Portuguese, somou is pronounced roughly like soo-MOH or suh-MOH, with the stress on the second syllable.

A rough guide:

• so- often has a reduced vowel in European Portuguese
• -mou is stressed

So the stress pattern is:

• so-MOU

The ending -ou in European Portuguese is usually pronounced like a diphthong similar to ohw.

A rough pronunciation is pon-too-a-SOUNG or pon-too-a-SOWN, with the stress on the final -ção.

A few things to notice:

• ção is a very common ending in Portuguese
• in European Portuguese, ão is nasal
• the ç makes an s sound

So pontuação has:

• pon-tu-a-ção

The last syllable is the important one to learn well, because -ção appears in many words:

• informação
• situação
• tradução

This is the normal, neutral Portuguese word order:

subject + verb + object

• A mulher = subject
• somou = verb
• a pontuação = direct object

This is the most straightforward and natural order in Portuguese for a simple statement.

You can change word order in some cases for emphasis, but this version is the standard one.

Yes, somar is a natural verb if the idea is to add up points or to total a score.

Depending on context, Portuguese might also use:

• calcular a pontuação = calculate the score
• contar os pontos = count the points
• fazer a soma da pontuação = do the sum of the score

But somou a pontuação is perfectly normal if someone added up the points.

Usually a pontuação refers to the overall score, scoring result, or points total.

It is often a collective idea rather than a single point.

So:

• os pontos = the points
• a pontuação = the score / points total / scoring

For example:

• Ela contou os pontos. = She counted the points.
• Ela somou a pontuação. = She added up the score / totaled the points.

You could understand it that way, but in natural English, a better translation is usually:

• The woman added up the score.
• The woman totaled the score.
• The woman calculated the score.

A very literal translation using summed is less natural in everyday English, even though it helps show the connection with somar.

Yes, but in this sentence the main visible gender marking is in the articles:

• a mulher because mulher is feminine
• a pontuação because pontuação is feminine

The verb somou does not change for gender. It changes for person and number, not masculine/feminine.

So:

• A mulher somou
• O homem somou

The verb stays the same. Only the article and noun change.