Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Nós somos as alunas novas.

No, nós (we) is used for both men and women and never changes its spelling. However, because the rest of the sentence says as alunas novas, we know this specific group of 'we' is entirely female.

Why do we use somos instead of são?

Somos is the matching form of the verb ser (to be) that goes with nós (we). You only use são when talking about eles or elas (they), or vocês (you plural).

Why is it alunas novas instead of novas alunas?

In English, we put the describing word (adjective) before the noun, like 'new students'. In Portuguese, the adjective usually comes right after the noun it describes. So it translates as 'students new'.

Why does the word novas have an 's' at the end?

In Portuguese, articles, nouns, and adjectives all have to match in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural). Because we have multiple female students (as alunas), the adjective nova (new) also needs an s added to the end to become plural.