Breakdown of Acabo de ver uma aranha no telhado.
um
a / an / some (all forms)
em
in / on / at
ver
to see
acabar de
to have just (done something)
Questions & Answers about Acabo de ver uma aranha no telhado.
Why does acabo mean "I have just" here? Doesn't acabar mean "to finish"?
You are right that acabar usually means "to finish." However, when you use the phrase acabar de followed by an infinitive verb like ver, it creates a special expression meaning you "just" did something. So, acabo de ver means "I just saw" or "I have just seen."
Why is acabo in the present tense if the action happened in the past?
In Portuguese, the structure acabar de + infinitive uses the present tense of acabar to describe an action completed mere moments ago. It is similar to saying "I finish seeing right now," which translates naturally to the English recent past.
I sometimes confuse the words for roof and ceiling. Does telhado mean the spider is inside or outside?
The spider is outside! Telhado refers strictly to the external roof of a building (related to telha, which means "roof tile"). If the spider were inside the house above your head, you would say it was on the ceiling, which is teto in Portuguese.