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O paraquedas não abriu e o rapaz por pouco não bateu no chão.

O paraquedas não abriu e o rapaz por pouco não bateu no chão.
The parachute didn't open and the boy almost hit the ground.
From Lesson 466:Near misses (por pouco não)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about O paraquedas não abriu e o rapaz por pouco não bateu no chão.

Why is there a não in por pouco não bateu, when the English translation says he almost hit the ground?
In Portuguese, near-misses are often expressed negatively. The phrase por pouco não literally means "by a little bit, it didn't". So, por pouco não bateu means he almost hit the ground, emphasizing that the impact was avoided by a very small margin.
Could we use the Imperfeito here and say por pouco não batia?
No, you should use the Pretérito Perfeito Simples (bateu). Even though the hitting didn't actually happen, the near-miss itself was a single, completed event in the timeline. The expression por pouco não almost always pairs with this past tense.
Why does paraquedas end in an 's' if the article O is singular?
Paraquedas (parachute) is an invariable compound noun, meaning its spelling is exactly the same in both the singular and plural. It is formed by combining the verb parar (to stop) and the plural noun quedas (falls). You only know it is singular in this sentence because of the article O. To say "the parachutes", you would just change the article to Os.
Why do we use no before chão instead of just o?
The verb bater takes the preposition em when you are talking about hitting or colliding with a surface. Here, em contracts with the masculine singular article o (for chão) to form no.

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