Breakdown of O comerciante gosta de vender as cenouras ao quilo.
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
a
to / at (direction)
gostar de
to like
o
him/it (m)
o quilo
the kilo
vender
to sell
o comerciante
the merchant
a cenoura
the carrot
Questions & Answers about O comerciante gosta de vender as cenouras ao quilo.
Why do we say ao quilo instead of por quilo to mean "by the kilo"?
In Portuguese, rates and measurements usually take the preposition a combined with the definite article. Because quilo is a masculine word, a plus o becomes ao. You might occasionally hear people say por quilo, but ao quilo is the standard and most natural way to express this rate in Portugal.
Why is there a de between gosta and vender?
The verb gostar (to like) always requires the preposition de before the thing or action you like. When you follow it with an action, you use gostar de plus the infinitive (the basic, unconjugated form) of the next verb, which gives us gosta de vender (likes to sell).
Is quilo just a shortened version of the word for kilogram?
Exactly! quilo is the everyday word for quilograma (kilogram). Just like in English, people almost always use the shorter version when shopping or talking about weight.
Could we leave out as and just say vender cenouras ao quilo?
You could, but keeping the definite article as sounds much more natural in Portuguese. Unlike English, Portuguese frequently uses definite articles when talking about nouns in a general, categorical sense, like carrots as an entire category of produce.
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