Breakdown of A rapariga gosta de cantar e dançar.
a rapariga
the girl
e
and
gostar de
to like
cantar
to sing
dançar
to dance
Questions & Answers about A rapariga gosta de cantar e dançar.
Why is the word de used here?
In Portuguese, the verb gostar (to like) almost always requires the preposition de right after it. You can think of it as meaning "to be fond of". So, whenever you say someone likes an activity, you must use gostar de followed by the action.
Why do cantar and dançar end in -r?
They are in the infinitive form, which is the basic "dictionary" form of a verb (meaning "to sing" and "to dance"). Because the main verb gostar is already conjugated to match A rapariga (becoming gosta), the action verbs that come after it just stay in this basic, unconjugated form.
Since she likes to sing AND dance, do I need to repeat the preposition and say de cantar e de dançar?
You don't have to! Just like in English where we can say "likes to sing and dance" instead of "likes to sing and to dance", you only need to use de once before the first verb. The de carries over to dançar automatically. Saying de cantar e de dançar is also correct, but less common in everyday speech.
I've seen the word menina for "girl". How is rapariga different?
In Portugal, rapariga is the standard, everyday word for a teenage girl or young woman. Menina is typically used for a younger child or little girl. Note: If you ever speak to someone from Brazil, be careful! In Brazilian Portuguese, rapariga is an offensive insult, but in European Portuguese it is completely normal and polite.
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