Breakdown of Está atento à aula hoje.
estar
to be (temporary / location)
hoje
today
a
to / at (direction)
a aula
the class
atento
attentive
Questions & Answers about Está atento à aula hoje.
Why does this sentence use está (from estar) for 'be' instead of a form of ser?
How do we know está is a command here and not just 'he/she is'?
Context tells us it is a command. In Portuguese, the informal command (for tu) is usually exactly the same as the normal 'he/she/it' form of the present tense. So, está can mean 'he is' or the informal command 'be!'. If you were speaking formally (to você), the command would change to esteja.
Does atento change if I am saying this to a woman or girl?
Yes! Adjectives must agree with the gender of the person they describe. If you are telling a female to be attentive, you must change the ending and say Está atenta.
Why is there a grave accent pointing to the left on à?
The word atento is typically followed by the preposition a (meaning 'attentive to'). Because aula (class) is a feminine noun, it uses the word a for 'the'. The preposition a and the article a combine into à. The accent just shows that this contraction happened.
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