Log inSign up

Quem respondeu ao email dele?

Quem respondeu ao email dele?
Who replied to his email?
From Lesson 65:Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Quem respondeu ao email dele?

Why does the verb end in '-eu' here?
It is the simple past tense of the regular verb responder. For regular -er verbs, the 'he/she/it' ending in the past tense is -eu. We use this form because the question word quem (who) acts as a third-person singular subject.
Why do we say ao email instead of just o email?
The verb responder (to reply or answer) requires the preposition a (to) before the thing or person receiving the reply. Since email is a masculine noun, the preposition a combines with the masculine word for 'the' (o) to form the contraction ao (to the).
I thought 'his' was seu. Why does this sentence use dele?
While seu can mean 'his', it can also mean 'hers' or 'yours', which often causes confusion. To be perfectly clear, Portuguese speakers usually put dele (a combination of de and ele, literally 'of him') after the noun instead. So, o email dele translates literally as 'the email of him'.
Does the word quem always take this verb form?
Yes! Just like in English where we say 'Who is' rather than 'Who are', the question word quem (who) always takes the third-person singular form of the verb.

Learn Quem respondeu ao email dele 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 →