Elas não são as alunas de Lisboa.

Questions & Answers about Elas não são as alunas de Lisboa.

Why do we use Elas instead of Eles?
Elas is the word for 'they' when talking about an all-female group. Because the sentence is about female students (alunas), the pronoun must be feminine. If there were a mix of male and female students, we would use the masculine Eles.
Why does não come before the verb?
In Portuguese, you make a sentence negative by putting não directly before the verb. So instead of saying 'are not' like in English, you say não são, which literally means 'not are'.
Why is the verb são?
são is the form of the verb ser (to be) that goes with 'they' (eles or elas). You will also use this exact same word for the plural 'you' (vocês são).
How does the plural work in as alunas?
To make a word ending in a vowel plural, you simply add an s to the end, turning aluna into alunas. The word for 'the' also has to match, so the feminine singular a becomes the feminine plural as.
Why is the word de used here?
The word de means 'of' or 'from'. In Portuguese, we use it to show origin, like where someone is from. Here, de Lisboa simply means 'from Lisbon'.

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