Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Vocês são os alunos americanos?

Vocês são os alunos americanos?

Are you the American students?

Breakdown of Vocês são os alunos americanos?

Questions & Answers about Vocês são os alunos americanos?

Why does the question start with "Vocês são" instead of flipping the words like in English ("São vocês")?

In Portuguese, you don't need to change the word order to ask a question. You just use the exact same order as a normal sentence and raise your voice at the end. Vocês são can mean "You are" or "Are you?" depending on your tone.

I know vocês means "you all", but why is the verb são? Isn't that the verb for "they"?

Yes, são is the present tense verb for eles and elas (they). In Portuguese, the plural "you" (vocês) always uses the "they" form of the verb.

If there are female students in this group, would we still say os alunos americanos?

Yes! In Portuguese, whenever a group contains both males and females, the masculine plural is used by default. You only use the feminine plural (as alunas americanas) if every single person in the group is female.

Why is it alunos americanos instead of americanos alunos?

Unlike in English, Portuguese describing words (adjectives) usually come after the thing they are describing. You also have to make sure the adjective matches the noun, which is why americano gets an -s added to match the plural alunos.