Breakdown of Os sapatos têm má qualidade. Tens de devolvê-los.
ter
to have
o sapato
the shoe
ter de
to have to
mau
bad / ill, unwell
-lo
it / him (m) [-la, -los, -las]
a qualidade
the quality
devolver
to return (an item)
Questions & Answers about Os sapatos têm má qualidade. Tens de devolvê-los.
Why does the sentence use -los instead of just -os for "them"?
In Portuguese, when a direct object pronoun like os (them) attaches to a verb ending in -r, -s, or -z, we drop that final letter and add an l to the pronoun. Here, the infinitive verb is devolver (to return). We drop the -r and attach -los to refer back to os sapatos.
Why is there a circumflex accent on devolvê?
When we drop the final -r from an -er verb to attach a pronoun, we add a circumflex (^) to the e. This tells us to keep the spoken stress on that last syllable, exactly as it sounded in the original word devolver.
Why does têm have an accent mark?
The circumflex accent shows that the verb is plural. Because os sapatos (the shoes) is plural, we use têm (they have). If we were talking about a single shoe, it would be written as tem without the accent.
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