Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Tu és o aluno novo? Bem-vindo!

Tu és o aluno novo? Bem-vindo!

Are you the new student? Welcome!

Breakdown of Tu és o aluno novo? Bem-vindo!

Questions & Answers about Tu és o aluno novo? Bem-vindo!

Why is it o aluno novo and not o novo aluno?

In Portuguese, adjectives describing a noun usually come after the noun. So instead of saying "new student" like in English, you say aluno (student) followed by novo (new).

Why use tu és instead of você é here?

Tu is the informal "you" in Portugal, used with friends, family, children, and peers. The speaker is likely a fellow student. If an administrator were speaking to an adult student in a more formal setting, they would probably use você é instead.

There is no special word for "are" at the beginning. How does the word order change to make it a question?

It doesn't! In Portuguese, you do not need to swap words around to ask a simple yes/no question like you do in English. You just take the normal statement (tu és meaning "you are") and add a question mark. When speaking, you simply make your tone of voice go up at the end.

Would bem-vindo change if the new student was a woman?

Yes! The word bem-vindo must match the gender of the person you are welcoming. Because this sentence is talking to a male student (o aluno), it uses the masculine form. If you were welcoming a female student (a aluna nova), you would say Bem-vinda!