Learn Portuguese (Portugal): A escola tem trezentas alunas. - The school has three hundred students.

A escola tem trezentas alunas.

The school has three hundred students.

Breakdown of A escola tem trezentas alunas.

Questions & Answers about A escola tem trezentas alunas.

Why is the number "trezentas" feminine?

In Portuguese, the numbers 200 through 900 change their endings to match whether the thing being counted is masculine or feminine. Because alunas (female students) is a feminine word, trezentos (three hundred) becomes trezentas.

Does "alunas" mean this is an all-girls school?

Most likely, yes! Alunas specifically means female students. In Portuguese, if a group has both boys and girls (even just one boy among 299 girls), you must use the masculine plural word alunos. Because this sentence uses alunas, we know all three hundred students being counted are female.

Is "trezentas" a combination of two words?

Yes! It is made by combining três (three) and centas (the feminine plural of a word meaning "hundreds"). You will see this same pattern with other numbers in the hundreds, like duzentos (two hundred) or quatrocentos (four hundred).

Which form of the verb "ter" (to have) is "tem"?

Tem is the "he/she/it" form of the verb ter. We use it here because A escola (The school) acts as a single "it". If the sentence was about plural schools, we would use têm (they have), which has a circumflex accent on top to show it is plural.