Breakdown of A mulher quer madeixas louras. Além disso, acabou de comprar um secador.
a mulher
the woman
um
a / an / some (all forms)
comprar
to buy
querer
to want
louro
blond
acabar de
to have just (done something)
além disso
furthermore
a madeixa
the highlight
o secador
the hairdryer
Questions & Answers about A mulher quer madeixas louras. Além disso, acabou de comprar um secador.
How is além disso formed, and why do we use it here instead of além de?
Além disso means "furthermore" or "besides that". It is made by combining the preposition de from além de (beyond/besides) with the pronoun isso (that). We use além disso here because it acts as a bridge between two independent sentences. If you wanted to use além de to combine them into one sentence, you would say Além de querer madeixas louras, ela acabou de comprar um secador (Besides wanting blonde highlights, she just bought a hairdryer).
I know acabar usually means "to finish". Why does it translate to "she just bought" here?
When you use the verb acabar followed by the preposition de and an infinitive verb (like comprar), the meaning changes to "to have just done" that action. Therefore, acabou de comprar means "she just bought" it. This is a very common and useful structure to remember!
What exactly are madeixas?
Is louras the only way to spell "blonde"? I thought it was spelled with an "i".
You will frequently see both louro and loiro (and their feminine forms loura and loira). Both spellings are completely correct and mean the exact same thing in Portugal, so writing madeixas loiras would also be perfectly fine.
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