Breakdown of Faltam-lhes os pratos descartáveis.
lhes
to them / to you (plural formal)
o prato
the plate / the dish
faltar
to be missing / to skip
descartável
disposable
Questions & Answers about Faltam-lhes os pratos descartáveis.
Why is the verb faltam in the plural when the English translation says 'They are missing'?
With verbs like faltar, the grammatical structure is flipped compared to English. The thing that is lacking (os pratos descartáveis) is the actual subject of the sentence. Since 'plates' is plural, the verb becomes faltam. The people who lack the plates are expressed as an indirect object (-lhes, meaning 'to them').
Does faltar mean 'to miss' in an emotional sense here?
Could we replace -lhes with a eles in this sentence?
Yes, grammatically you could say Faltam a eles os pratos descartáveis. However, using the attached indirect object pronoun -lhes is much more natural and standard in European Portuguese. You would usually only use a eles if you needed to heavily emphasize who was missing the plates, or to clarify an ambiguous pronoun.
Why does the adjective descartáveis come after the noun pratos?