Breakdown of O râguebi é um desporto muito violento.
ser
to be
muito
much / very
um
a / an / some (all forms)
o desporto
the sport
Questions & Answers about O râguebi é um desporto muito violento.
Why is "rugby" spelled as râguebi with a circumflex?
Portuguese often adapts English loanwords to match its own spelling and phonetics. The circumflex in râguebi marks the stressed syllable and indicates a closed vowel sound (similar to the "u" in the English word "rug"). The gue combination is used to maintain the hard "g" sound before the vowel e.
Why do we use the definite article O before râguebi?
In Portuguese, you generally need a definite article (o or a) before the name of a sport when it acts as the subject of a sentence. While English simply says "Rugby is...", Portuguese requires O râguebi é...
I often see the word esporte for sport. Why does this sentence use desporto?
Desporto is the standard noun for "sport" in European Portuguese. Esporte is the Brazilian Portuguese equivalent. Since you are focusing on the Portuguese spoken in Portugal, you should always use desporto.