Breakdown of O veterano, produtor do filme, veio à gala.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
a
to / at (direction)
o filme
the movie
vir
to come
a gala
the gala
o veterano
the veteran (experienced person)
o produtor
the producer
Questions & Answers about O veterano, produtor do filme, veio à gala.
Why is there no o before produtor? Shouldn't it be o produtor do filme?
In Portuguese, when you use a noun phrase between commas to further describe the noun right before it (this is called an apposition), you usually drop the definite article. Since produtor do filme simply adds identifying information about O veterano, the article o is omitted.
I always mix up the past tense of vir (to come) and ver (to see). Why is it veio and not viu here?
Because veio is the past tense (pretérito perfeito) of vir (he came). The form viu is the past tense of ver (he saw). They are highly irregular and extremely easy to confuse! A quick trick: the infinitive with an 'e' (ver) gets an 'i' in this past tense form (viu), while the infinitive with an 'i' (vir) gets an 'e' (veio).
Why do we use the grave accent in à gala?
The word à is a contraction of the preposition a (to) and the feminine definite article a (the) before the feminine noun gala. The verb vir uses the preposition a for destinations you attend or visit briefly, such as a party or gala. The accent indicates the merger of those two as.
Can veterano be used as an adjective as well as a noun?
Yes! Here it acts as a noun (O veterano meaning the veteran). However, it can also be used as an adjective, as in the phrase um ator veterano (a veteran actor). Portuguese frequently allows adjectives to function as nouns simply by placing a definite article in front of them.
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