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Os alunos voltam à biblioteca.

Os alunos voltam à biblioteca.
The students return to the library.
From Lesson 29:Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Os alunos voltam à biblioteca.

Why is there a backwards accent on the word à?
That accent (called a grave accent) shows that a contraction happened. The verb voltam (return) connects to a destination using the preposition a (to). The word biblioteca (library) is feminine, so it takes the article a (the). Instead of writing a a, Portuguese combines them into à (to the).
Why does voltam use the preposition a here?
In Portuguese, verbs of motion like voltar (to return) and ir (to go) usually use the preposition a to indicate the short-term destination you are moving toward.
Wait, biblioteca means library? What about the word livraria?
This is a tricky false friend for English speakers! A biblioteca is a library where you borrow books. A livraria is a bookstore where you buy books.
What if the group of students was entirely female?
Then the sentence would start with As alunas. Because this sentence uses the masculine plural Os alunos, it tells us the group is either all male or a mix of male and female students.

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