Breakdown of A chave de fendas estava no chão e eu apanhei.
eu
I
e
and
estar
to be (temporary / location)
em
in / on / at
o chão
the floor
apanhar
to catch
a chave de fendas
the screwdriver
Questions & Answers about A chave de fendas estava no chão e eu apanhei.
Why is there no word for "it" after apanhei?
In European Portuguese, when you refer back to an inanimate object that was just mentioned (like a chave de fendas), it is very common to completely drop the direct object pronoun. Instead of saying apanhei-a (I picked it up), you can just use the verb on its own: apanhei. This is known as the inanimate null object.
Could I drop the pronoun if I were talking about a person or an animal instead of a screwdriver?
No, the null object is strictly for inanimate things. If you were saying "The dog was on the floor and I picked him up", you would absolutely need the pronoun: O cão estava no chão e eu apanhei-o. Dropping the pronoun for living things sounds incorrect in European Portuguese.
Is it grammatically wrong to say apanhei-a in this sentence?
Not at all! Saying e eu apanhei-a is completely correct and grammatically complete. However, dropping the pronoun for inanimate objects is extremely common in everyday spoken European Portuguese, so learning to recognize and use this "invisible" object makes your Portuguese sound much more native.
What is the literal translation of chave de fendas?
It literally translates to "key of slots" or "key of slits". The word chave means key, and uma fenda is a crack, slit, or slot, which refers perfectly to the flat groove on the head of a traditional screw.
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