Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O que quer dizer esta palavra?

O que quer dizer esta palavra?

What does this word mean?

Breakdown of O que quer dizer esta palavra?

I mean, that is (reformulation); to mean

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Questions & Answers about O que quer dizer esta palavra?

Why do we use quer dizer instead of a single verb to ask what something means?

Literally translating to "wants to say", the phrase quer dizer is the most natural and common way to express "to mean" in Portuguese. You can also use the single verb significar, as in O que significa esta palavra?, but quer dizer is widely preferred in everyday conversation.

Could I change the word order to O que esta palavra quer dizer?

Yes, both are grammatically correct. However, placing the subject at the end of a question, as in O que quer dizer esta palavra?, is extremely common in Portuguese. Inverting the subject and verb in interrogative sentences sounds very natural and fluid to native speakers.

Why use O que instead of just Que at the start of this question?

When asking "what" independently as a pronoun, as we do here, we almost always use O que. If you were asking "What word is this?", the word "what" modifies the noun directly, so you would drop the article and just use Que, as in Que palavra é esta?.