Word
Eles têm a mala dele no carro.
Meaning
They have his suitcase in the car.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Eles têm a mala dele no carro.
o carro
the car
eles
they (m)
ter
to have
no
in the / on the / at the (m, f, pl forms: na, nos, nas)
Questions & Answers about Eles têm a mala dele no carro.
Why do we use dele here to mean his?
While words like seu and sua can mean his, they can also mean her, your, or their, which gets confusing. To be perfectly clear that the suitcase belongs to a man, we use dele (literally of him). Notice that it comes after the thing being owned: a mala dele (the suitcase of him).
Does dele need to match the feminine word mala?
No! This is a great feature of words like dele and dela. Unlike most Portuguese adjectives and possessives, they match the gender of the owner, not the object. Because it is his suitcase, we use dele. If it were her suitcase, it would be a mala dela, regardless of the word mala being feminine.
The subject is Eles (They). Why don't we use deles (their)?
Because the English sentence says They have his suitcase. The suitcase belongs to one specific man, not the whole group. If the sentence meant They have their suitcase, then you would use Eles têm a mala deles.
Why does the verb têm have a circumflex (a little hat) on the e?