Word
O jantar era às oito, e ela vinha sempre.
Meaning
Dinner was at eight, and she always used to come.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about O jantar era às oito, e ela vinha sempre.
Why do we use era instead of foi for "was" in this sentence?
era is the Pretérito Imperfeito (a past tense used for habits and descriptions) of the highly irregular verb ser (to be). We use it here because telling time in the past (era às oito) is considered setting a scene or describing a background state, rather than a single completed action.
vinha looks very different from its infinitive. What verb is this?
It is the Pretérito Imperfeito of the irregular verb vir (to come). Because the sentence says she "always used to come" (sempre), we need this tense to show it was a repeated, habitual action in the past.
It is easy to confuse the past tenses of ver (to see) and vir (to come). How can I remember which one is vinha?
They are very easy to mix up! In the Pretérito Imperfeito, ver (to see) becomes via (she used to see), while vir (to come) becomes vinha (she used to come). Notice how vinha has that nasal "nh" sound, which is unique to the past habit form of vir.
Why does às have a backwards accent mark in às oito?