Question 1

Why is the sentence ordered as "O telemóvel do irmão" instead of something like "O irmão's telemóvel"?

Accepted Answer

Portuguese doesn't have an apostrophe "s" to show ownership like English does. Instead, you always have to flip the phrase around to say "the phone of the brother" using the preposition de (of).

Question 2

Where does the word do come from in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The word do means "of the". To say "of the brother", you need the preposition de (of) and the masculine word for "the", which is o (because irmão is masculine). In Portuguese, de + o always squish together to form the contraction do.

Question 3

Does the adjective novo (new) match with the brother or the phone?

Accepted Answer

It matches with the phone! The main subject of the sentence is O telemóvel, which is a masculine noun. Even though irmão is right next to it, the thing that is not new is the phone itself, so we use the masculine adjective novo.

Question 4

Why use é (from the verb ser) instead of está (from estar) to say the phone "is" not new?

Accepted Answer

Portuguese has two verbs for "to be". We use ser (which gives us é) for permanent or defining characteristics. Being a new (or old) object is treated as a built-in fact about the phone's identity, rather than a temporary mood or location, so we use é.

O telemóvel do irmão não é novo.

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