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O senhor tem dezanove livros?

O senhor tem dezanove livros?
Do you have nineteen books?
From Lesson 13:The verb to have (tenho, tem)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about O senhor tem dezanove livros?

Why does this sentence use tem (he/she has) if the translation says "you have"?
In Portuguese, formal "you" phrases like o senhor (for men) and a senhora (for women) share the same verb form as ele and ela (he and she). Because of this, we use the third-person form tem instead of the informal "you" form (tens).
Why use o senhor instead of tu to say "you"?
O senhor is a formal, respectful way to say "you" to a man. It is commonly used in Portugal with strangers, shopkeepers, or older individuals. If you were talking to a friend or a child, you would use the informal tu and change the verb to tens.
How is this a question if there are no words like "Do" or "Does" at the beginning?
Portuguese does not use helper words like "do" to make questions. You simply use the exact same word order as a regular statement and raise your voice at the end when speaking. In writing, the question mark is the only clue.
I have seen the number 19 spelled as "dezenove" before. Why is it dezanove here?
Dezanove (with an a) is the standard spelling and pronunciation in European Portuguese. The spelling "dezenove" (with an e) is used in Brazilian Portuguese. Since you are learning the Portuguese from Portugal, you will always write dezanove.

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