Question 1

Why does the word moral change from masculine (o moral) to feminine (a moral) in the same sentence?

Accepted Answer

This is a perfect example of a dual-gender noun where the meaning changes completely depending on the article. The masculine o moral means "morale" (the level of confidence or spirits of a group). The feminine a moral means the "moral" (the lesson of a story) or "morality" in general.

Question 2

Since equipa is feminine, shouldn't the adjective be alta instead of alto?

Accepted Answer

The adjective alto modifies the subject of the sentence, which is o moral (masculine). Even though the morale belongs to a equipa (the team), the thing that is actually "high" is the masculine noun moral.

Question 3

Why use está instead of é to say the morale "is" high?

Accepted Answer

Morale is a temporary state of mind or emotion that can go up and down. Because it is a condition rather than a permanent characteristic, Portuguese uses the verb estar instead of ser.

Question 4

Why do we say apesar da moral instead of apesar a moral?

Accepted Answer

The phrase for "despite" in Portuguese is always the compound preposition apesar de. Here, the de contracts with the feminine definite article a (from a moral) to form da.

O moral da equipa está alto, apesar da moral da história.

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