Breakdown of A que horas tens de acordar hoje?
hoje
today
a que horas
at what time
ter de
to have to
acordar
to wake up
Questions & Answers about A que horas tens de acordar hoje?
Why do we need the word de between tens and acordar?
This is the standard Portuguese structure for expressing obligation, which translates to "having to" do something. You use the verb ter (to have), add the word de, and follow it with a verb in its original infinitive form, like acordar (to wake up). Without de, tens just means "you have", not "you have to".
Why does the sentence start with A que horas instead of just Que horas?
In English we usually just say "What time...", but in Portuguese, when asking at what time a specific event will happen, you must use the preposition a (at). So, A que horas literally means "At what hours". If you just say Que horas são?, you are asking "What time is it right now?".
Where is the word for "you" in this sentence?
In Portuguese, the subject pronoun is usually dropped because the verb itself tells you who is doing the action. Tens is specifically the tu (informal "you") form of the verb ter. You could say A que horas tu tens de acordar hoje?, but leaving tu out sounds much more natural.
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