Breakdown of Quando a loiça está suja, as raparigas lavam-na.
a rapariga
the girl
estar
to be (temporary / location)
sujo
dirty
quando
when
Questions & Answers about Quando a loiça está suja, as raparigas lavam-na.
Why is it lavam-na instead of just lavam-a?
This sentence demonstrates a special rule for direct object pronouns. When a verb ends in a nasal sound, like the -m in lavam, the pronouns o, a, os, and as change to no, na, nos, and nas. Since the girls are washing a loiça (a feminine, singular noun), the pronoun is normally a. Attached to lavam, it becomes lavam-na.
Why is 'the dishes are' translated as singular a loiça está instead of plural?
In Portuguese, a loiça is a collective noun meaning 'the crockery' or 'the dishware'. Even though we say 'dishes' in English (plural), loiça is grammatically singular in Portuguese. That is why it uses the singular verb está and the singular adjective suja.
Why use está instead of é for 'is dirty'?
In English it says 'wash them', but the Portuguese pronoun -na is singular. Why?