Breakdown of A criança aprende línguas mais depressa do que os pais.
o pai
the father / the parents
aprender
to learn
a língua
the language
a criança
the child
depressa
quickly, fast
Questions & Answers about A criança aprende línguas mais depressa do que os pais.
The English translation says "Children", but the Portuguese uses the singular A criança. Why?
In Portuguese, you can use the definite article with a singular noun to represent an entire class or group in a general sense. While you could also say As crianças aprendem, using A criança aprende is a very natural way to make a general statement about "the child" as a concept, which translates best to "Children" in English.
Why use mais depressa instead of mais rápido for "faster"?
Depressa is an adverb meaning "quickly" or "fast," so mais depressa is the traditional, grammatically strict way to modify the verb aprende. You will often hear native speakers use mais rápido informally as an adverb, but mais depressa is the standard way to say "more quickly" or "faster" when describing an action.
Why does os pais have a definite article (os), while línguas has no article?
Os pais gets the definite article because it represents a definitive group in this context (the parents of those children) or the concept of parents generally. Línguas, on the other hand, is an indefinite plural object here. The child isn't learning specific languages, just languages in general. Portuguese omits the article for unspecified plurals, just like English.
Could I just say que instead of do que for "than"?
Yes, in this comparative structure, both mais ... do que and mais ... que are grammatically correct and mean exactly the same thing. However, do que is much more common in everyday spoken Portuguese.
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