Breakdown of Eles voltam à piscina no fim de semana.
eles
they (m)
em
in / on / at
à
at the (fem. sg.) / to the (fem. sg.)
voltar
to return
o fim de semana
the weekend
a piscina
the swimming pool
Questions & Answers about Eles voltam à piscina no fim de semana.
Why is there a backwards accent on à in à piscina?
This is the focus of your current lesson! It shows the contraction of the preposition a (to) and the feminine definite article a (the). Because piscina (swimming pool) is feminine, we combine a + a to say 'to the'. The accent mark shows that two as have merged into à.
Why does the sentence use no for 'at the' weekend?
no is a contraction from an earlier lesson: the preposition em (in/on/at) plus the masculine article o (the). In Portuguese, time expressions like weekends use em. Since fim de semana is masculine, em + o becomes no.
Does voltam mean 'go' or 'return'?
How does fim de semana translate to 'weekend'?
It literally translates word-for-word as 'end' (fim) 'of' (de) 'week' (semana). Even though semana is feminine, the core word of the phrase is fim (end), which is masculine. That is why the whole phrase is treated as masculine and takes the masculine contraction no.
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