Breakdown of A maioria dos homens colhem as uvas cedo.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
o homem
the man
cedo
early
a
to / at (direction)
Questions & Answers about A maioria dos homens colhem as uvas cedo.
Why is the verb colhem in the plural when the subject is A maioria (singular)?
When using a partitive expression like a maioria de (the majority of) followed by a plural noun like os homens, European Portuguese allows the verb to be either singular or plural. It can agree with the singular maioria, making colhe correct, but it can also agree with the plural homens, making colhem correct too. Using the plural here puts a bit more focus on the individual men doing the harvesting.
If I wanted to use the singular form instead, what would the sentence look like?
You would simply change the verb to the third-person singular: A maioria dos homens colhe as uvas cedo. Both versions are completely natural and grammatically correct in everyday Portuguese.
Why is it dos homens instead of just de homens?
dos is the contraction of the preposition de (of) and the definite plural article os (the). Because the sentence refers to a specific group (the majority of the men), the definite article is required.
What is the infinitive of colhem?
The infinitive is colher, which means to harvest, pick, or gather. It is a regular verb in the present tense, so the third-person plural ends in -em just like you would expect: eles colhem.