Questions & Answers about O erro é pequeno e temos uma desculpa.
How do you pronounce the conjunction e (and) in this sentence?
In European Portuguese, the word for "and" (e) is pronounced like the "ee" in the English word "see". Be careful not to confuse it with the verb é (is) earlier in the sentence, which has an accent mark and sounds like the "e" in the English word "pet".
Why is there no word for "we" before temos?
In Portuguese, you can often leave out subject pronouns like nós (we) because the ending of the verb already tells you who is doing the action. The form temos can only mean "we have", so the word nós is completely optional and usually dropped to sound more natural.
Why use é instead of está to say the mistake is small?
Why does the word for small end in "-o" (pequeno)?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because erro (mistake) is a masculine noun, the adjective must take the masculine form pequeno. If it were describing a feminine word—like uma desculpa pequena (a small excuse)—it would end in "-a".