Breakdown of Nós passeamos pela praia.
nós
we
a praia
the beach
passear
to go for a walk
pelo
through the (m.sg, pela, pelos, pelas)
Questions & Answers about Nós passeamos pela praia.
Why is it pela instead of just por?
pela is a mandatory contraction of the preposition por (along, through, by) and the feminine word for 'the' (a). Since praia (beach) is a feminine noun, we say a praia (the beach). When you put por and a together, they merge into pela.
I thought por meant 'for' or 'by'. How does it mean 'along' here?
The preposition por is very versatile. When talking about movement and locations, it often describes moving 'through', 'along', or 'around' a place. So passear pela praia naturally translates to 'strolling along the beach'.
Is passeamos in the present tense or the past tense?
It can be both! For regular verbs ending in '-ar' like passear (to stroll), the nós (we) form is spelled and pronounced exactly the same in the present tense (we stroll) and the simple past tense (we strolled). You have to rely on context to know which one is meant.
Is the verb here passar? Why is there an 'e' in passeamos?