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A gente vai patrulhar, pois a vizinhança está assustada.

A gente vai patrulhar, pois a vizinhança está assustada.
We are going to patrol, because the neighborhood is scared.
From Lesson 484:Transition marker (ora)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A gente vai patrulhar, pois a vizinhança está assustada.

Why use pois here instead of porque?
Pois is frequently used as an explanatory conjunction meaning "because" or "since." It is essentially interchangeable with porque in this sentence, but pois is very common in Portuguese when adding an after-the-fact justification to a statement. Notice that it follows a comma, which is the standard punctuation before pois in this context.
Since a gente means "we," why is the verb singular (vai)?
While a gente is the informal, everyday equivalent of nós (we), its literal grammatical translation is closer to "the folks" or "the people." Therefore, it always triggers third-person singular verb conjugation, exactly like ele or ela.
Why is the neighborhood's fear expressed with está rather than é?
We use the verb estar because being scared (assustada) is a temporary emotional state or condition, not a permanent, inherent characteristic. If the neighborhood were permanently terrifying, you would use ser, but to express that it is currently frightened, estar is required.
Why does assustada end in an -a here?
Here, the past participle assustado functions as an adjective describing a vizinhança (the neighborhood). Because vizinhança is a feminine singular noun, the adjective must agree in gender and number, becoming assustada.

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