Breakdown of Quantas maçãs quer a tua mãe comprar?
a mãe
the mother
quanto
how much / how many
comprar
to buy
teu
your (informal, m/f/pl: teu, tua, teus, tuas)
Questions & Answers about Quantas maçãs quer a tua mãe comprar?
Why do we use quantas instead of quantos or quanto?
Why does quer come before a tua mãe?
In Portuguese questions, it is very common to put the verb (quer) right after the question phrase (Quantas maçãs) and before the subject (a tua mãe). It literally reads as "How many apples wants your mother to buy?". You can also say Quantas maçãs a tua mãe quer comprar?, but swapping the verb and subject sounds very natural.
Why is there an a before tua mãe?
In European Portuguese, we almost always put a definite article (the words for "the") before possessives like "my" or "your". Because mãe (mother) is feminine, we use the feminine word for "the", which is a. So, "your mother" becomes a tua mãe (literally "the your mother").
Why isn't the verb comprar conjugated?