Breakdown of O alpinista nunca leva nenhuma corda para a escalada, ou seja, o risco é crítico.
ser
to be
a
to / at (direction)
para
to / for
nunca
never
o
him/it (m)
levar
to take (somewhere)
o risco
the risk
nenhum
no / none / not any (quantity)
a corda
the rope
o alpinista
the climber
ou seja
in other words
crítico
critical
a escalada
the climb
Questions & Answers about O alpinista nunca leva nenhuma corda para a escalada, ou seja, o risco é crítico.
How exactly does ou seja work in this sentence, and could I use isto é instead?
ou seja translates to "in other words" or "that is to say" and is used to clarify the previous statement. It acts as a fixed connector phrase (even though seja is technically the subjunctive form of the verb ser). Yes, you can perfectly swap it with isto é here, as they are interchangeable when clarifying a point.
Why does it say nunca leva nenhuma? Doesn't that literally translate to "never takes no rope"?
Yes, literally it does! Unlike English, Portuguese actively requires a double negative. Whenever a negative word like nunca (never) comes before the verb, you must use another negative word like nenhuma (none/not any) to agree with it. Trying to use a positive word after the verb would sound incorrect.
How do I know if alpinista (climber) is masculine or feminine here?
Nouns ending in -ista (like alpinista, artista, dentista) are invariable, meaning the word itself doesn't change its ending to show gender. You have to look at the article before it. Here, the masculine article O in O alpinista tells us this is a male climber. For a female climber, it would be A alpinista.
Why use para a escalada instead of pela escalada (por + a)?
para is used here because it indicates the purpose or destination of the rope (what it is intended for). If you used the preposition por (which combines with a to make pela), it would sound like the rope was being taken because of the climb or throughout the climb, missing the mark on 'purpose'.
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