Breakdown of Nós temos quarenta e dois livros.
e
and
o livro
the book
nós
we
ter
to have
dois
two
quarenta
forty
Questions & Answers about Nós temos quarenta e dois livros.
Why is there an e in the middle of the number quarenta e dois?
In Portuguese, when you combine tens (like quarenta) and units (like dois), you must connect them with e (meaning 'and'). So, forty-two is literally forty and two (quarenta e dois).
Would the number change if we were talking about something feminine, like houses (casas)?
Yes! The numbers one and two (and any larger numbers ending in them, like 42) change to match the gender of the noun. Since livros is masculine, we use dois. If it were feminine, it would be quarenta e duas casas.
Is it necessary to include the word Nós at the beginning?
No, it is entirely optional. The verb form temos specifically means 'we have', so the 'we' is already built in. Just saying Temos quarenta e dois livros is completely correct and very natural in spoken Portuguese.
How is the isolated letter e pronounced in this sentence?
When the letter e stands alone to mean 'and', it is usually pronounced like the 'ee' sound in the English word 'see'.
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