Question 1

Why do we say o racional and o essencial instead of adding a word like "coisa" (thing)?

Accepted Answer

In Portuguese, you can turn an adjective into a noun representing an abstract concept simply by putting the masculine singular article o in front of it. So o racional means "the rational thing" and o essencial means "the essential part". You don't need to add a word like coisa.

Question 2

Why is the word problema preceded by num instead of numa, since it ends in an "a"?

Accepted Answer

Even though it ends in "-a", problema is a masculine noun. This is common for Portuguese words of Greek origin that end in "-ema" or "-grama". Because it is masculine, it takes the masculine article um. The word num is just the contraction of the preposition em (in) and um (a).

Question 3

Why isn't there a word for "for" after procurar?

Accepted Answer

English speakers often want to add the preposition por (for) after procurar, but the verb procurar already means "to look for" or "to search for". You connect it directly to the object you are seeking, as in procurar o essencial.

Question 4

Why is the verb procurar left in the infinitive here?

Accepted Answer

Here, procurar (to look for) is describing the general action that defines the subject (o racional). Just like in English ("The rational thing is to look for..."), when an action is the complement of the verb é (is), we leave it in its unconjugated infinitive form.

O racional é procurar o essencial num problema complexo.

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