Question 1

How do we know the journalist is a woman if jornalista always ends in "-a"?

Accepted Answer

You can tell by the feminine article A at the beginning of the sentence. Words ending in -ista, like jornalista or dentista, are invariable, meaning they are spelled the same for both men and women. If it were a male journalist, the sentence would start with O jornalista.

Question 2

What if the victim of the crime was a man? Would the sentence change to o vítimo?

Accepted Answer

No, it would still be a vítima. In Portuguese, vítima is a noun that is always grammatically feminine, regardless of the actual gender of the person it describes. Another common example of this is a pessoa (the person).

Question 3

Why use falou instead of falava here?

Accepted Answer

The verb falou is the simple past tense (Pretérito Perfeito), which is used for a single, completed action in the past. The journalist had a specific conversation. If you used falava (Pretérito Imperfeito), it would imply she used to speak with the victim regularly, or she was in the middle of speaking to them when something else happened.

Question 4

Why do we use the preposition com instead of a for "to speak to"?

Accepted Answer

In Portuguese, to express having a conversation with someone, we normally use falar com (to speak with). If you used the preposition a (which would merge with the article to become à vítima), it would sound formal and one-sided, as if she were delivering a statement to the victim rather than having a dialogue.

A jornalista falou com a vítima do crime.

Breakdown of A jornalista falou com a vítima do crime.

Questions & Answers about A jornalista falou com a vítima do crime.

Learn A jornalista falou com a vítima do crime and more in Portuguese