Breakdown of Nós trabalhamos às dez da manhã.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
nós
we
dez
ten
trabalhar
to work
a manhã
the morning
às
at the (fem. pl.) / to the (fem. pl.)
Questions & Answers about Nós trabalhamos às dez da manhã.
Why is it às dez and not just a dez for "at ten"?
In Portuguese, when telling time, you don't just say "at ten", you say "at the ten". Because hours are feminine and plural (think of it as "the ten hours"), you combine the preposition a (at) with the feminine plural word for "the" (as). They merge together to form às.
Why does the accent mark on às point to the left?
That left-pointing mark is called a grave accent. In Portuguese, it is mainly used to show that two "a" words have crashed together and merged into one. Here, it is a visual clue that the preposition a and the article as combined into the single word às.
Why does the sentence use da manhã instead of a word for "in" the morning?
When attaching a time of day to a specific hour, Portuguese uses the preposition de (of) instead of "in". Just like the earlier contraction, de combines with the feminine "the" (a) before manhã to become da. So, "at ten in the morning" translates literally as "at the ten of the morning" (às dez da manhã).
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