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O leite está estragado.

O leite está estragado.
The milk has gone off.
From Lesson 255:Na cozinha (o molho, queimar)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of O leite está estragado.

o leite
the milk
estragado
broken

Questions & Answers about O leite está estragado.

Why do we use está (from estar) instead of é (from ser) for spoiled milk?
We use estar because it describes a condition or a changed state rather than an inherent characteristic. The milk wasn't always spoiled; it became that way. If you used é, it would sound like the milk is fundamentally spoiled by nature!
Leite ends in '-e'. Is there a rule for its gender, and does it affect the rest of the sentence?
Nouns ending in '-e' can be either masculine or feminine in Portuguese, so they often need to be memorized. Leite is masculine, which is why we use the masculine article o and the masculine adjective ending for estragado. Watch out if you speak Spanish, where the word for milk is feminine!
Does estragado only mean 'spoiled' when talking about food?
No, it is much broader! It comes from the verb estragar (to damage, ruin, or break). While it translates to 'spoiled' or 'gone off' for food and drinks, you will also hear it used for broken machines, like a phone or a car, or even to describe a ruined plan or a spoiled child.
Could I use the verb ficar instead of estar in this situation?
Yes, you can! As a B1 learner, you have likely seen that ficar often expresses a change of state. If you say O leite ficou estragado, you are emphasizing the transition (The milk went bad / became spoiled). Using está simply describes its current, ruined condition.

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