Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O médico trabalha às cinco da tarde? - Does the doctor work at five in the afternoon?

The word às is a contraction of the preposition a (at) and the plural feminine word for "the", as. In Portuguese, hours are feminine and plural (as horas), so when we say "at five", we literally say "at the five". That combines a + as into às.

Why does the sentence use da tarde for "in the afternoon"?

When specifying the time of day after a specific hour (like 5:00), Portuguese uses da (of the) instead of "in the". da is a combination of de (of) and a (the). So, you are literally asking if he works at five "of the afternoon".

There is no word for "Does" here. How do we form the question?

Portuguese doesn't use helper words like "do" or "does" for questions. You just take the regular statement O médico trabalha (The doctor works) and turn it into a question by raising your pitch at the end when speaking, and adding a question mark when writing.

What would this sentence look like if the doctor were female?

You would change the masculine O médico to the feminine A médica. The verb trabalha and the rest of the sentence stays exactly the same: A médica trabalha às cinco da tarde?