Breakdown of A empresa investiu todo o capital na capital.
em
in / on / at
todo
all / whole
a empresa
the company
investir
to invest
o capital
the capital (money)
a capital
the capital city
Questions & Answers about A empresa investiu todo o capital na capital.
The word capital appears twice but with different genders (o capital vs na capital). How do the meanings differ?
This is a classic example of a dual-gender noun where the grammatical gender completely changes the definition. O capital (masculine) refers to money, funds, or financial assets. A capital (feminine) refers to the principal city of a country or region. This sentence playfully uses both: the company invested its money (o capital) in the city (a capital).
Why do we say todo o capital instead of just todo capital?
In Portuguese, when todo means "all of the" or "the entire", it must be followed by the definite article. Therefore, todo o capital means "all the money". If you were to drop the article, todo changes meaning to "every" or "any", as in todo capital tem risco (every/any investment has risk).
Why does the sentence use na capital instead of em capital or à capital?
The verb investir takes the preposition em when indicating where or in what the money is placed. Because you are referring to a specific noun, "the" capital city (a capital), the preposition em merges with the feminine definite article a to form the contraction na.
If I want to say "capital letter", do I use o capital or a capital?
Learn A empresa investiu todo o capital na capital and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free