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Os alemães bebem muita água.

Os alemães bebem muita água.
The Germans drink a lot of water.
From Lesson 40:Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of Os alemães bebem muita água.

muito
much / very
beber
to drink
a água
the water
o alemão
the German

Questions & Answers about Os alemães bebem muita água.

Why is the plural of alemão spelled alemães?
The singular word for German is alemão, which ends in -ão. Words ending in -ão can form their plurals with -ões, -ãos, or -ães. You usually have to memorize which ending a word takes, but as a helpful trick, nationalities ending in -ão almost always take the -ães plural, making it alemães.
Why do we use muita instead of muito here?
When you use the word for a lot to describe a noun, it has to match that noun's gender. Because água (water) is a feminine word, the default masculine muito changes to its feminine form, muita. If you were talking about a masculine word like coffee (café), it would stay muito café.
How does the verb bebem work in this sentence?
Bebem comes from the regular verb beber (to drink). Because the subject of the sentence is Os alemães (The Germans), we need the they form of the verb. For regular verbs ending in -er, the they form ends in -em, giving us bebem.
Does the s in Os connect to the start of alemães when speaking?
Yes! In Portuguese, when a word ends with an s and the very next word starts with a vowel, the s links to that vowel and makes a z sound. So, Os alemães sounds a bit like Oz alemães when spoken at a normal speed.

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