Breakdown of Eu não bebo leite à meia-noite.
eu
I
não
not / no
beber
to drink
o leite
the milk
à
at the (fem. sg.) / to the (fem. sg.)
a meia-noite
the midnight
Questions & Answers about Eu não bebo leite à meia-noite.
Why does this sentence use à instead of às for the time?
When telling time in Portuguese, you usually use the plural às (a contraction of a + as) because most hours are plural, like às duas (at two). However, meia-noite (midnight) and meio-dia (noon) are singular words. Since noite is feminine, we combine the preposition a (at) with the singular feminine article a (the) to make à.
What does meia-noite literally mean?
It literally translates to "half-night". Meia means "half" (in its feminine form to match the gender of the noun) and noite means "night". Because it is a compound word, it is connected with a hyphen.
Why does não come right before bebo?
Could I leave the word eu out of this sentence?
Yes, you can! Because the verb beber (to drink) is conjugated as bebo, it can only possibly mean "I drink". In Portuguese, it is very common to drop the subject pronoun (eu) when the verb ending already makes it clear who is doing the action.
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