Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O farmacêutico fala com o cliente. - The pharmacist speaks with the customer.

O farmacêutico fala com o cliente.

The pharmacist speaks with the customer.

Breakdown of O farmacêutico fala com o cliente.

Questions & Answers about O farmacêutico fala com o cliente.

How would this sentence change if the pharmacist was a woman?

You would change the article and the ending of the noun to make them feminine: A farmacêutica fala com o cliente. Notice that the circumflex accent remains on the e.

Why is there an accent mark on farmacêutico?

The circumflex accent (^) on farmacêutico tells you to put the spoken stress on that syllable (-cêu-). Without the accent, the normal stress rules of Portuguese would naturally make you emphasize the second-to-last syllable (-ti-).

How do we know if cliente is masculine or feminine here?

The noun cliente doesn't change its spelling based on gender. Instead, you look at the word right before it. Because it says o cliente, we know this specific customer is male. If it were a female customer, the sentence would end with com a cliente.

Which verb is fala from?

It comes from the regular verb falar (to speak). Because the subject o farmacêutico is a "he" (ele), we drop the -ar ending and add -a to make the third-person singular form, which is fala.