Log inSign up

O rapaz está a escrever um poema no caderno.

O rapaz está a escrever um poema no caderno.
The boy is writing a poem in the notebook.
From Lesson 61:Present continuous (estar a)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about O rapaz está a escrever um poema no caderno.

How does está a escrever translate to "is writing"?
In European Portuguese, actions happening right now are usually expressed with the verb estar (to be), plus the word a, plus the infinitive (unconjugated) form of the action verb. Here, está matches the boy, and escrever means "to write". Together, está a escrever gives us "is writing".
Why do we use está instead of é for "is" in this sentence?
In Portuguese, there are two verbs for "to be": ser and estar. We always use estar to build the present continuous because we are describing an action that is temporarily in progress right now. Since the boy is currently in the middle of writing, we must use está.
Why is it um poema? Doesn't the "-a" at the end make it feminine?
Usually, yes! But poema is a common exception. Many Portuguese words ending in "-ma" that come from Greek roots are actually masculine. Because it is a masculine word, it takes the masculine article um (a) instead of the feminine uma.
Where does the word no come from in no caderno?
No is a mandatory contraction (a merging of two words) of the preposition em (which means in, on, or at) and the masculine word for "the", which is o. Because caderno (notebook) is masculine, em and o combine to make no, meaning "in the".

Learn O rapaz está a escrever um poema no caderno and more in Portuguese

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Portuguese →