Breakdown of O presidente acaba de falar do governo na televisão.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
em
in / on / at
falar
to speak
a televisão
the television
Questions & Answers about O presidente acaba de falar do governo na televisão.
Why does acaba de falar mean "has just spoken" when acabar usually means "to finish"?
In Portuguese, the phrase acabar de followed by an infinitive verb (like falar) is a special construction. It doesn't mean "to finish speaking," but rather that an action happened very recently. It translates perfectly to the English concept of having just done something.
Since the action is in the past ("has just spoken"), why is acaba conjugated in the present tense?
When using the acabar de + infinitive structure to mean that something just happened, the verb acabar is almost always conjugated in the present tense. You are expressing that right now, in the present, the subject has just completed the action.
Why is it do governo instead of sobre o governo?
Both are entirely correct! You can use either falar de (to speak of) or falar sobre (to speak about), and they are largely interchangeable. In this sentence, de combines with the masculine article o (the) to form the contraction do.
Why does the sentence use na televisão? Doesn't na usually mean "in the"?