Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Há sessenta alunos na escola. - There are sixty students in the school.

Há sessenta alunos na escola.

There are sixty students in the school.

Breakdown of Há sessenta alunos na escola.

o aluno

the student (m)

haver

to be (there is / there are)

a escola

the school

in the / on the / at the (f.sg)

Questions & Answers about Há sessenta alunos na escola.

Is sessenta related to the word for six?

Yes! The word for six is seis. To make the tens, Portuguese often builds on the single digit. Notice that the spelling changes a bit: sessenta uses a double ss to keep the soft s sound in the middle of the word.

If there are sixty students, why don't we use a plural form of há?

The word há comes from the verb haver. When used to mean there is or there are, it is an impersonal verb. This means it never changes to match plural nouns. You use há for there is one student and also for there are sixty students.

Why do we say na escola instead of just em escola?

In Portuguese, we almost always combine the word for in (em) with the word for the (a or o). Since escola is a feminine word, we use a. When you squeeze em and a together, they contract to form na (in the).

Does alunos mean only male students?

Not necessarily. Alunos is the masculine plural form, but in Portuguese, a mixed group of male and female students is always referred to using the masculine plural. So, sessenta alunos usually means a mix of boys and girls.