Breakdown of Nós preferimos os aviões aos comboios.
nós
we
o comboio
the train
a
to / at (direction)
preferir
to prefer
Questions & Answers about Nós preferimos os aviões aos comboios.
Why is the plural of avião spelled aviões here instead of aviãos?
Words ending in -ão can form their plural in three different ways: -ões, -ãos, or -ães. The most common ending by far is -ões, which is the one avião uses to become aviões (airplanes). Because there is no easy rule to guess which ending a word takes, you just have to memorize the plural when you learn a new -ão word.
Where does the word aos come from in this sentence?
aos is a contraction (a squished-together word) of the preposition a (to) and the plural masculine article os (the). When you prefer something over something else in Portuguese, you use the preposition a. So, "to the trains" translates as a + os = aos comboios.
Does preferimos mean "prefer" or "preferred"?
It means "prefer" here, but it could actually be both! For regular verbs ending in -ir like preferir, the nós (we) form is exactly the same in both the present tense and the simple past tense. You have to rely on the context of the conversation to know if it is happening now or in the past.
Is comboios the normal word for trains?