Word
O avô ensinou-me a pescar.
Meaning
My grandfather taught me to fish.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about O avô ensinou-me a pescar.
Why does the Portuguese sentence say O avô instead of O meu avô if the translation is "My grandfather"?
In Portuguese, when talking about close family members and the context makes it obvious whose relative it is, it's very common to drop the possessive pronoun (meu) and just use the definite article (o or a). It sounds highly natural and affectionate in European Portuguese.
Why do we need the preposition a in ensinou-me a pescar? Doesn't the infinitive pescar already mean "to fish"?
While pescar does mean "to fish", the verb ensinar (to teach) requires the preposition a when it is followed by an action (an infinitive verb). Many Portuguese verbs require a specific linking preposition to connect to the next verb. The fixed structure here is ensinar alguém a fazer algo (to teach someone to do something).
Why is the pronoun attached to the end of the verb (ensinou-me) instead of coming before it?
In European Portuguese, pronoun placement naturally defaults to after the verb (enclisis) in affirmative main clauses. Because this sentence doesn't contain a "magnet" word—like a negative word, a relative pronoun, or an adverb that would pull the pronoun before the verb—the me attaches to the end of ensinou with a hyphen.