Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Eles comem o peixe no restaurante.

Eles comem o peixe no restaurante.

They eat the fish in the restaurant.

Breakdown of Eles comem o peixe no restaurante.

Questions & Answers about Eles comem o peixe no restaurante.

How do we form comem from the verb comer?

Comer (to eat) is a regular "-er" verb. To match eles (they), you drop the "-er" ending from the base word and add "-em". This gives you comem.

Why does the sentence use no restaurante instead of em o restaurante?

In Portuguese, the preposition em (in, on, or at) always merges with definite articles (the words for "the"). When em meets the masculine article o, they combine to make no (in the).

Since peixe and restaurante both end in "-e", how can I tell their gender?

Nouns ending in "-e" do not have an obvious gender rule like "-o" or "-a" endings do. Luckily, the words right before them give us the clue! The masculine article o before peixe, and the masculine word no before restaurante, show us that both are masculine words.

Could I leave out the word Eles and just start with Comem?

Yes! In Portuguese, the "-em" ending of comem already tells us the subject is plural (they, or "you all"). If it is already clear from the conversation who is eating, you can drop Eles and just say Comem o peixe no restaurante.