Breakdown of É à rapariga de peruca que eu dou a máscara.
eu
I
ser
to be
a rapariga
the girl
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
a
to / at (direction)
dar
to give
que
who / which / that (relative)
a máscara
the mask
a peruca
the wig
Questions & Answers about É à rapariga de peruca que eu dou a máscara.
Why is there an à right after É instead of just a?
The verb dar (to give) requires the preposition a to indicate who is receiving the item (dar a máscara a alguém). In a Portuguese cleft sentence (É ... que), if the emphasized part is the object of a preposition, that preposition must be pulled to the front. Here, the preposition a merges with the feminine article a (the girl) to form à. Unlike English, Portuguese never leaves a preposition stranded at the end of the sentence.
Could I use quem instead of que for this sentence?
Yes, but you would still need to keep the fronted preposition, making it É à rapariga de peruca a quem eu dou a máscara. However, using the standard É ... que structure shown in the main sentence is much more common and sounds more natural in everyday speech.
Why is it de peruca rather than em peruca to mean 'in a wig'?
When describing someone by an accessory, item of clothing, or physical feature, Portuguese typically uses the preposition de. English uses 'in' or 'with' (the girl in a wig / the man with glasses), but in Portuguese you will say a rapariga de peruca or o homem de óculos.
If I wanted to replace a máscara with a pronoun ('It is the girl in a wig that I give it to'), where would it go?
It would become É à rapariga de peruca que eu a dou. The word que acts as a 'magnet' in Portuguese grammar, forcing the direct object pronoun a (it/the mask) to move immediately before the verb dou.
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