Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Porque é que o museu não abre hoje?

Porque é que o museu não abre hoje?

Why does the museum not open today?

Breakdown of Porque é que o museu não abre hoje?

Questions & Answers about Porque é que o museu não abre hoje?

Why are there three words (Porque é que) just to say "Why"?

Porque means "Why", and é que literally means "is it that". In European Portuguese, it is very common to add é que after question words to make the sentence flow better. So Porque é que translates as "Why is it that" or simply "Why".

Can I just ask "Porque o museu não abre hoje?" without the é que?

Yes, you can! Leaving out é que is grammatically correct. However, adding é que to questions is extremely typical in everyday spoken Portuguese in Portugal, so you will hear it all the time.

Where is the word for "does" in this sentence?

Portuguese does not use helper verbs like "do" or "does" to form questions or negatives. To say "does not open", you just put não (not) directly before the verb abre (opens).

Why do we use abre here?

Abre is the "he/she/it" form of the verb abrir (to open). Because o museu (the museum) acts as an "it", we use this form. It translates to "open" here because English uses "does not open", but on its own, it means "opens" or "is opening".