Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Eles vêm à festa.

Eles vêm à festa.

They come to the party.

Breakdown of Eles vêm à festa.

eles

they (m)

at the (fem. sg.) / to the (fem. sg.)

Questions & Answers about Eles vêm à festa.

Wait, I thought this lesson was about the verb ir (to go)? Why does it say vêm?

This sentence actually uses the irregular verb vir (to come), which is the exact opposite of ir (to go). It is very common to mix them up! If they were going away from us to the party, it would be Eles vão à festa. Because they are coming to where we are, we use vêm.

Why does vêm have a circumflex accent (the little hat) on the letter e?

The accent in vêm tells us that it is the plural form meaning they come. The singular form meaning he comes or she comes is spelled almost the same, but without the accent: vem. The accent is the only visual clue showing us that multiple people are coming.

Is vêm related to the Portuguese verb for seeing?

It is very easy to confuse them! Vêm (with the accent) means they come from the verb vir. The word for they see from the verb ver is spelled veem. They look similar but are completely different verbs.

What does the backwards accent on à mean?

The word à is a contraction of the preposition a (to) and the feminine word for the, which is also a. Because the word festa (party) is feminine, we need both. Instead of writing out a a festa, Portuguese combines them into à, and the grave accent pointing to the left marks that this happened.