Breakdown of Ele tem tanta ambição que até estuda aos domingos.
ele
he
ter
to have
estudar
to study
o domingo
the Sunday
a
to / at (direction)
que
that (conjunction)
tanto
so much, as much (tanto, tanta, tantos, tantas)
até
even
a ambição
the ambition
Questions & Answers about Ele tem tanta ambição que até estuda aos domingos.
I learned that até means "until". Why is it translated as "even" here?
While até is often a preposition meaning "until" (like até amanhã), it can also be used as an adverb meaning "even". In this sentence, it emphasizes a surprising extreme: his studying includes Sundays.
Why use tanta instead of tão for "so"?
Because it describes a noun. You use tão (so) before adjectives or adverbs, like tão ambicioso (so ambitious). You use tanto (so much/many) before nouns, and it has to match the gender and number. Since ambição is a feminine singular noun, it becomes tanta.
Why do we say aos domingos instead of nos domingos for "on Sundays"?
To talk about a repeated habit on days of the week, European Portuguese prefers using the preposition a combined with the definite article. Since domingos is masculine plural, a + os becomes aos domingos.
Can we drop the word que like we often drop "that" in English?
No. In English, you could say "He has so much ambition he even studies", but in Portuguese, the conjunction que is mandatory to connect the two parts of the sentence.
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