Breakdown of A médica vai ao banco e à farmácia.
e
and
a médica
the doctor (f)
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
à
at the (fem. sg.) / to the (fem. sg.)
ir
to go
a farmácia
the pharmacy
o banco
the bank
Questions & Answers about A médica vai ao banco e à farmácia.
Where does the word vai come from?
Vai is the "he/she/it" form of the irregular verb ir (to go) in the present tense. Since a médica (the doctor) is a "she", we use the third-person singular form, which is vai.
Why does the sentence use ao for the bank but à for the pharmacy?
In Portuguese, the preposition a (to) must combine with the word for "the" (o or a). Because banco is a masculine word, "to the" becomes a + o = ao. Because farmácia is feminine, "to the" becomes a + a = à. The accent mark on à simply shows that this combination happened.
The English translation says "is going", but shouldn't that require a continuous tense?
In Portuguese, the simple present tense (like vai) is frequently used to mean both "goes" (a habit) and "is going" (happening right now). It is very common to use the simple present for actions happening in the moment, especially with verbs of movement like ir.
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