Learn Portuguese (Portugal): As reuniões são difíceis.

Words ending in -ão can be tricky because there are three possible plural endings: -ões, -ãos, or -ães. However, -ões is by far the most common. For reunião (meeting), you simply drop the -ão and add -ões to get reuniões.

How do you form the plural of difícil?

The singular adjective is difícil. For words ending in -il where the spoken stress is not on the last syllable, you drop the -l and add -eis. This gives us difíceis, which is plural to match the plural noun reuniões.

Why does difíceis have an accent mark?

In Portuguese, plural words ending in -eis usually put the spoken stress on that final sound. But we want to keep the stress on the "fí" part, just like it was in the singular word difícil. The acute accent (´) on difíceis tells you to break the normal rule and emphasize that middle syllable.

Why use são instead of estão in this sentence?