Breakdown of Às terças-feiras, nós procurávamos os pardais perto da lagoa.
nós
we
a terça-feira
the Tuesday
às
at the (fem. pl.) / to the (fem. pl.)
procurar
to look for / to seek to, to try to
perto de
near
a lagoa
the lagoon
o pardal
the sparrow
Questions & Answers about Às terças-feiras, nós procurávamos os pardais perto da lagoa.
Why does this sentence use Às for 'On' instead of Nas?
English speakers naturally want to translate 'on' as the preposition em, which combines with as to make nas. However, in Portugal, to express that you do something regularly on days of the week, you use the preposition a combined with the definite article. Since terças-feiras is feminine plural, a + as contracts into às.
Why is the verb procurávamos in the imperfect tense here?
The imperfect tense is used for ongoing or repeated habits in the past. Because the phrase Às terças-feiras shows this was a recurring event, the imperfect fits perfectly to mean 'we used to look'. If this were a one-time completed action on a specific Tuesday, you would use the simple past tense instead.
Where is the Portuguese word for 'for' in 'look for'?
The verb procurar already means 'to look for' or 'to search for'. You do not need to add an extra preposition like por after it. You simply connect the verb directly to the object: procurávamos os pardais.
How did the word for sparrows become pardais?
Why does the sentence use da lagoa rather than just de lagoa?
The expression for 'near' is perto de. Because we are talking about a specific lagoon, it requires the feminine definite article a (the). The preposition de merges with the article a to form the contraction da (near the).
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