Breakdown of O vizinho deu-me boleia ontem.
ontem
yesterday
o vizinho
the neighbor (m)
dar boleia
to give a lift
Questions & Answers about O vizinho deu-me boleia ontem.
Why is the pronoun attached with a hyphen to make deu-me instead of saying me deu?
In European Portuguese, object pronouns like me naturally attach to the end of the verb in an affirmative main sentence. You would only put the pronoun before the verb if a magnet word like não or que pulled it to the front (for example, não me deu).
The translation says 'gave me a lift', but there is no word for 'a' before boleia. Why is that?
The Portuguese expression for giving someone a ride is simply dar boleia. It acts as a set phrase, so you usually leave out the indefinite article uma, even though we need 'a' in English.
If dar boleia means to give a lift, how do I say that I caught a lift with someone?
If you are the one receiving the ride, you use the verb apanhar (to catch). To say 'I got a lift yesterday', you would say apanhei boleia ontem.
I know dar is an -ar verb. Why does its past tense form deu look like it belongs to a different verb group?
The verb dar is highly irregular. Even though it is an -ar verb in the infinitive, its simple past forms actually follow the pattern of regular -er and -ir verbs (matching endings like bebeu or partiu).
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