Breakdown of Não bebo a mistura, pois sabe a hortelã.
não
not / no
beber
to drink
a
to / at (direction)
pois
because (since, for)
saber a
to taste like
a mistura
the mixture
a hortelã
the mint
Questions & Answers about Não bebo a mistura, pois sabe a hortelã.
Wait, doesn't saber usually mean "to know"? Why does it translate to "tastes like" here?
In Portuguese, the verb saber has two distinct meanings. While it normally means "to know", adding the preposition a changes its valency. The expression saber a means "to taste of" or "to taste like". Therefore, sabe a hortelã means "it tastes like mint".
The word for mint is feminine (a hortelã). Why didn't the preposition a combine with the definite article to form à?
When describing a general flavor or ingredient, we omit the definite article. We just use the preposition a on its own, so it stays sabe a hortelã. You would only use the contraction à (sabe à hortelã) if you were talking about a specific, physical piece of mint, like saying "it tastes like the mint".
I usually use porque to say "because". Is pois used exactly the same way here?
In the middle of a sentence, pois works exactly like porque to introduce a reason or justification, though it can sound slightly more formal or written. However, they are not always perfectly interchangeable: unlike porque, you cannot use pois at the very beginning of a sentence to answer a question.
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