Breakdown of A testemunha estava a dormir quando o homem bateu à porta.
o homem
the man
estar
to be (temporary / location)
a porta
the door
a
to / at (direction)
quando
when
dormir
to sleep
a testemunha
the witness
bater
to knock / to crash, to hit
Questions & Answers about A testemunha estava a dormir quando o homem bateu à porta.
How does estava a dormir translate to "was sleeping"?
In European Portuguese, the past continuous is formed using the imperfect tense of estar (here, estava) followed by the preposition a and the infinitive of the main verb (dormir). This is exactly like the present continuous (está a dormir - is sleeping), just shifted to the past!
Why do we use two different past tenses (estava and bateu) in the same sentence?
This is a classic pattern for interrupted actions in the past. We use the past continuous (estava a dormir) for the background action that was already ongoing, and the simple past or preterite (bateu) for the sudden, completed action that interrupted it.
What if the witness was a man? Would we say o testemunho?
Why does à have a grave accent in à porta?
The accent shows that two words have merged into one. It is a contraction of the preposition a (at/on) and the feminine definite article a (the). When a verb like bater (to knock) pairs with the preposition a, and the next word is a feminine noun like porta, they combine into à.
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