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Tenho a carta de condução.

Tenho a carta de condução.
I have the driving licence.
From Lesson 43:Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of Tenho a carta de condução.

ter
to have
a carta de condução
the driving licence

Questions & Answers about Tenho a carta de condução.

Why is "Eu" (I) missing from the beginning of the sentence?
In Portuguese, the verb ending usually tells you who is doing the action. Because tenho always means "I have", adding eu is optional and mostly used for emphasis.
Doesn't carta usually mean "letter"?
Yes, carta commonly means "letter" (as in mail), but it is also used for certain official documents or cards. In Portugal, a driver's licence is specifically called a carta de condução.
Why use de (of) between the two nouns?
Unlike English, Portuguese does not usually put two nouns right next to each other to make a new concept like "driving licence". Instead, it connects them with de, making it literally "licence of driving".
Is there a trick to remembering words that end in -ção?
Yes! Words ending in -ção, like condução, are almost always feminine. This is helpful to remember when you need to match them with feminine words like a (the). They also frequently match English words ending in "-tion".

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