Questions & Answers about Eu escrevo a resposta.
Since this lesson is about the present continuous, how would I change this sentence to say 'I am writing the answer'?
To say 'I am writing' in Portugal, you use the verb estar (to be) matched to 'I', plus a, plus the dictionary form of the action verb. So, 'I am writing the answer' would be Eu estou a escrever a resposta. The sentence we have here, Eu escrevo a resposta, is the simple present tense ('I write').
Why does the verb end in -o (escrevo)?
Escrevo comes from the verb escrever (to write). When you talk about yourself in the present tense (eu), regular verbs almost always drop their normal ending and add -o.
Could I just say Escrevo a resposta without the word eu?
Why is it a resposta instead of o resposta?
In Portuguese, all nouns have a gender. Resposta (answer) is a feminine noun, which you can often guess because it ends in -a. Therefore, it needs the feminine word for 'the', which is a.
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