Word
O autor registou no manuscrito que tinha chegado ao castelo naquele dia.
Meaning
The author recorded in the manuscript that he had arrived at the castle that day.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of O autor registou no manuscrito que tinha chegado ao castelo naquele dia.
ter
to have
no
in the / on the / at the (m, f, pl forms: na, nos, nas)
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
naquele
in that over there (m/sg), naquela (f/sg), naqueles (m/pl), naquelas (f/pl)
Questions & Answers about O autor registou no manuscrito que tinha chegado ao castelo naquele dia.
Why is naquele dia used here instead of hoje?
This is a key rule of backshifting in reported speech! If the author originally used the word hoje (today) in their manuscript, the time reference must shift backwards because the reporting verb (registou) is in the past. Therefore, hoje becomes naquele dia (that day).
Why do we use tinha chegado here instead of the simple past chegou?
Tinha chegado is the past perfect tense, which translates to had arrived. When we report an event that was already in the past—such as the author originally writing cheguei (I arrived)—we have to shift the tense one step further back into the past. Since the reporting verb (registou) is in the past tense, the original simple past tense backshifts to the past perfect.
Why do we say chegado ao castelo instead of chegado no castelo?
In English, you arrive at a place, but in European Portuguese, the verb chegar requires the preposition a (to) when referring to reaching a destination. Since castelo is masculine, the preposition a combines with the definite article o to make ao castelo.
How is the word naquele formed?