Breakdown of A televisão está estragada, mas temos o computador.
mas
but
ter
to have
estar
to be (temporary / location)
o computador
the computer
a televisão
the television
estragado
broken
Questions & Answers about A televisão está estragada, mas temos o computador.
What is the word mas doing in this sentence?
Mas is a coordinating conjunction that means "but". It connects two contrasting ideas. Just like in English, it is placed directly between the two clauses you are contrasting: the television is broken, but you still have the computer.
Is mas ("but") the same as mais ("more")?
No, but beginners often mix them up because they look very similar! Mas means "but" and has a short "a" sound. Mais means "more" and has a distinct "ai" vowel sound.
Why does the sentence use está for the broken television instead of é?
Why does estragada end in -a?
In Portuguese, adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Nouns ending in -são or -ção (like televisão) are almost always feminine. Because of this, the base adjective estragado changes to its feminine form, estragada.
The translation says "we have", but I don't see the word for "we" (nós) here. Why is it missing?
In Portuguese, you can usually leave out the subject pronoun (like nós) because the verb's ending already tells you who is doing the action. The verb form temos specifically means "we have", so adding nós before it isn't necessary to understand the sentence.
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