Breakdown of O meu carro é novo.
ser
to be
o carro
the car
novo
new / young
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
Questions & Answers about O meu carro é novo.
Why is there an O before meu? We do not say 'The my car' in English.
In European Portuguese, you usually must put a definite article (o, a, os, as - meaning 'the') right before a possessive word like meu (my). Because carro is a masculine word, we use the masculine article o, making it o meu carro.
If a woman is speaking, does she say a minha carro instead?
Why do we use é (from the verb ser) instead of está (from the verb estar) for 'is'?
We use ser (é) for things that are considered defining characteristics. While a car will not be new forever, being 'new' or 'old' is treated as a core classification of the object, rather than a temporary condition like being dirty (está sujo).
Why does the sentence end with novo instead of nova?
Adjectives (describing words) must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because carro is a masculine noun, the adjective must also take its masculine form, novo.
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