Log inSign up

Ele estuda à tarde.

Ele estuda à tarde.
He studies in the afternoon.
From Lesson 25:Telling time (é uma, são...)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of Ele estuda à tarde.

ele
he
estudar
to study
à tarde
in the afternoon

Questions & Answers about Ele estuda à tarde.

Why does the a in à tarde have an accent pointing backwards?
That accent (called a grave accent) shows that two identical letters have merged into one. It combines the preposition a (which means "at" or "in" here) and the feminine word for "the", which is also a. Instead of writing a a tarde, Portuguese squishes them together into à tarde.
Why do we use à instead of na for "in the afternoon"?
Prepositions rarely translate perfectly between languages! While English uses "in the" for parts of the day, Portuguese usually uses the preposition a for afternoons and nights (à tarde, à noite). However, for mornings, they use the preposition de (de manhã).
Does the accent on à change how it is pronounced?
Yes! In European Portuguese, a normal word "the" (a) is pronounced with a closed, muffled sound (similar to the "uh" sound in English). The accent on à tells you to pronounce it as an "open" A, which sounds much more like the "a" in "father".
Why is the verb estuda and not estudo?
The dictionary form of this verb is estudar (to study). Because the subject of our sentence is ele (he), we drop the -ar and add the ending for he/she/it, which is -a. If you wanted to say "I study", you would use the "I" ending and say eu estudo.

Learn Ele estuda à tarde 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 →