Breakdown of Eles vendem o marisco à unidade.
eles
they (m)
à
at the (fem. sg.) / to the (fem. sg.)
o
him/it (m)
vender
to sell
o marisco
the seafood
a unidade
the unit
Questions & Answers about Eles vendem o marisco à unidade.
Why do we use à here instead of a translation for 'by', like por?
In Portuguese, rates, measurements, and pricing are typically expressed using the preposition a combined with a definite article (o, a, os, as). Because unidade is feminine singular, the preposition a merges with the article a to create à.
What does the backward accent on à mean?
That is a grave accent, and it indicates a contraction. It tells you that the word isn't just the article a (the) or just the preposition a (to/at/by), but rather both of them merged together.
In English, 'seafood' is an uncountable noun. Is marisco uncountable in Portuguese?
Unlike in English, marisco can be countable in Portuguese! You will often see the plural os mariscos to refer to various types of shellfish. However, in this sentence, o marisco acts as a singular collective noun representing the seafood as a whole category.
I sometimes see vende-se for 'is sold'. Why use vendem here?
You use vende-se (the passive voice) when there is no specific person doing the selling, such as on a 'For Sale' sign. Because this sentence has a stated, active subject doing the action, which is Eles (They), we conjugate the verb normally as vendem.
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