Breakdown of O arranhão de que te queixaste está no capô.
estar
to be (temporary / location)
no
in the / on the / at the (m, f, pl forms: na, nos, nas)
que
who / which / that (relative)
queixar-se de
to complain about
o arranhão
the scratch
o capô
the hood
Questions & Answers about O arranhão de que te queixaste está no capô.
Why is there a de before que in this sentence?
The verb queixar-se (to complain) is always followed by the preposition de (to complain about something). In Portuguese, you can never leave a preposition dangling at the end of a sentence like we do in English. It must be moved right before the relative pronoun que, making the literal translation 'the scratch of which you complained'.
Why is the pronoun te placed before the verb (te queixaste) instead of after it?
Could I translate 'about' using sobre here, making it sobre que?
Not with this specific verb. While sobre does mean 'about', the verb queixar-se strictly requires the preposition de. Learning which short prepositions pair with which verbs is a big part of mastering these relative clauses.
Why do we use está instead of é for the location of the scratch?
We use estar because you are describing the physical location of a mark on an object. Even if the scratch is permanent, physical locations of things and temporary conditions take estar, so we say está no capô.
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