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Não atravessemos agora, o sinal está vermelho.

Não atravessemos agora, o sinal está vermelho.
Let's not cross now, the traffic light is red.
From Lesson 97:Negative commands (não pises, não pise)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Não atravessemos agora, o sinal está vermelho.

Why does atravessar change to atravessemos here instead of atravessamos?
This is the negative imperative, which is used for negative commands. To tell a group not to do something, Portuguese swaps the verb endings. For regular -ar verbs like atravessar, the nós (we) ending changes from -amos to -emos. Placing não in front gives us não atravessemos (let's not cross).
Does atravessemos translate to "let's cross" all on its own?
Yes! In Portuguese, the imperative form for nós (we) translates directly to "let's [verb]" in English. You do not need a separate word for "let's". Because of the não at the start of this sentence, it becomes "let's not cross".
I learned that sinal means "sign" or "signal". Is it the normal word for "traffic light"?
Yes. The full literal term is sinal de trânsito (traffic signal), but in everyday spoken Portuguese, it is almost always shortened to just o sinal when talking about traffic lights on the street.
Why use está instead of é for the color red?
We use está (from the verb estar) because the light being red is a temporary state that will change to green soon. If you used é vermelho (from the verb ser, used for permanent traits), it would mean the physical traffic light box itself is permanently painted red.

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