Breakdown of A rapariga tinha frio, mas pôs o casaco e sorriu.
a rapariga
the girl
e
and
mas
but
o casaco
the coat
ter frio
to be cold (a person)
pôr
to put
sorrir
to smile
Questions & Answers about A rapariga tinha frio, mas pôs o casaco e sorriu.
Why do we use the Imperfeito for tinha but the Perfeito for pôs and sorriu?
This sentence is a perfect example of how the two past tenses work together! We use the Pretérito Imperfeito (tinha) to set the scene and describe the background situation or how she was feeling. Then, we use the Pretérito Perfeito (pôs, sorriu) for the specific, completed actions she took during that state.
Why is it tinha frio instead of using the verb estar (to be) for "was cold"?
What verb does pôs come from?
It comes from the highly irregular verb pôr (to put). Pôs is the "ele/ela/você" form in the Pretérito Perfeito (simple past). Because this verb is so irregular, its past tense forms just have to be memorized.
Why isn't there the pronoun ela (she) before pôs or sorriu?
Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when it is obvious who is doing the action. Since we already established that we are talking about a rapariga (the girl), we don't need to keep saying ela for her subsequent actions.
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