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Quantas maçãs quer a tua mãe comprar?

Quantas maçãs quer a tua mãe comprar?
How many apples does your mother want to buy?
From Lesson 36:Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Quantas maçãs quer a tua mãe comprar?

Why do we use quantas instead of quantos or quanto?
Quanto (how much / how many) changes its ending to match the noun it refers to. Since maçãs (apples) is a feminine, plural word, we use the feminine plural form: quantas.
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?
When two verbs are paired together to make one action — in this case, "wants to buy" — only the first verb changes to match the person doing the action. Quer is conjugated to match a tua mãe, while comprar stays in its basic dictionary form (the infinitive), just like in English!

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