Breakdown of Eu vou às compras ao sábado.
eu
I
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
o sábado
the Saturday
ir às compras
to go shopping
Questions & Answers about Eu vou às compras ao sábado.
Why do we use às before compras?
In Portuguese, the standard expression for "to go shopping" is ir às compras (literally "to go to the purchases"). Because compras is a feminine plural word, the preposition a (to) merges with the feminine plural article as (the) to create the contraction às.
Why is it ao sábado instead of using a word for "on"?
To say you do something on a specific day of the week, Portuguese uses the preposition a combined with the definite article (the). Because sábado is a masculine word, a combines with o to make the contraction ao.
The English translation says "on Saturdays" (plural), but sábado is singular here. Why?
Using ao with the singular day of the week (sábado) is a very common way to express a recurring habit, meaning "every Saturday" or "on Saturdays". You could also say aos sábados (plural) and it would mean the exact same thing.
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