Questions & Answers about Ele trabalha no hospital.
How do we form the word trabalha?
It comes from the regular verb trabalhar (to work). To conjugate regular -ar verbs for ele (he), ela (she), or você (formal you), you simply drop the -ar from the dictionary form and add an -a to the end.
Where does the word no come from?
The word no means "in the". It is a required combination of the preposition em (in/at) and the masculine word for "the" (o). Because hospital is a masculine word, we must merge em and o together to make no.
Is hospital pronounced the same as it is in English?
It is spelled the exact same way, but it sounds different! In Portuguese, the letter h at the start of a word is always completely silent. The stress is also on the final syllable, and in Portugal, an l at the end of a word makes a dark sound similar to the English letter "u".
Does Ele trabalha only mean "He works" in a general sense?
It can mean that, but Portuguese often uses this simple present tense for things happening right now, too. Depending on the context, Ele trabalha can mean "He works" (as a regular routine) or "He is working" (at this very moment).