Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Eles escondem o segredo no carro vazio.

Eles escondem o segredo no carro vazio.

They hide the secret in the empty car.

Breakdown of Eles escondem o segredo no carro vazio.

Questions & Answers about Eles escondem o segredo no carro vazio.

Why is it no carro and not "em o carro"?

In Portuguese, the preposition em (in/on/at) automatically combines with the definite article o (the) to form the contraction no. You will never see "em o" written as two separate words.

What is the dictionary form of the verb escondem?

The base verb is esconder (to hide). Because it is a regular -er verb, we drop the -er and add -em to match the subject eles (they).

Why is it carro vazio instead of vazio carro?

In English, we put the adjective first ("empty car"). In Portuguese, descriptive adjectives like vazio (empty) almost always come after the noun they describe, giving us carro vazio (literally "car empty").

How would I use negative words like nunca (never) or nada (nothing) in this sentence?

To say "They never hide the secret", place the negative word right before the verb: Eles nunca escondem o segredo. If you want to say "They don't hide anything", you use Portugal's double negation rule by putting não before the verb and nada after it: Eles não escondem nada no carro (literally "They don't hide nothing").