Breakdown of Temos de enviar um convite ao casal a quem alugámos a casa.
a casa
the house
quem
who
um
a / an / some (all forms)
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
a
to / at (direction)
alugar
to rent
ter de
to have to
enviar
to send
o convite
the invitation
o casal
the couple
Questions & Answers about Temos de enviar um convite ao casal a quem alugámos a casa.
Why is there an a before quem in this sentence?
In English, you can end a sentence or clause with a preposition ("the couple we rented the house to"). In Portuguese, prepositions can never be left dangling at the end. They must come directly before the relative pronoun they belong to. So, "the couple to whom" translates to o casal a quem.
Why is there an accent mark on alugámos?
The accent shows that this is the past tense (Pretérito Perfeito). For regular -ar verbs, the "we" form is spelled almost identically in the present and the past. European Portuguese adds an acute accent to the past tense form (alugámos, meaning "we rented") to tell it apart from the present tense (alugamos, meaning "we rent"). This also changes the vowel pronunciation to an open sound.
Why does it say ao casal instead of just o casal?
The verb enviar (to send) requires the preposition a (to) when you are stating who is receiving the item. Because casal (couple) is a masculine noun, it uses the definite article o (the). The preposition a merges with the article o to form the contraction ao (to the).
Could I say Temos que enviar instead of Temos de enviar for "We have to send"?
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