Breakdown of Eles não podem tirar fotografias no museu.
não
not / no
eles
they (m)
no
in the / on the / at the (m, f, pl forms: na, nos, nas)
o museu
the museum
poder
can / may (verb)
tirar
to take
a fotografia
the photograph
Questions & Answers about Eles não podem tirar fotografias no museu.
Why does tirar not change to match Eles?
Tirar is the infinitive (the basic dictionary form) of the verb. Because we already conjugated the modal verb poder into the "they" form (podem), the main action verb just stays in its basic form. You do the exact same thing in English: "they can take", not "they can takes".
I've learned that levar and tomar also mean "to take". Why use tirar here?
When it comes to taking pictures, Portuguese always uses the verb tirar (which usually means "to pull" or "to remove"). You would use tomar for things like having a drink or taking a shower, and levar for carrying an object away to another place.
Is the negative word não always placed exactly where it is here?
Where does the word no come from in no museu?
The word no translates to "in the". It is a mandatory contraction (blending) of the preposition em (meaning in, on, or at) and the masculine word for "the", which is o. We use o here because museu is a masculine noun.
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