Question 1

Why is it primeiro and not primeira here?

Accepted Answer

Ordinal numbers like primeiro (first) act like adjectives, so they must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. Because prémio (prize) is a masculine singular noun, we use the masculine singular form primeiro. If it were a feminine noun like a medal (a medalha), it would be a primeira medalha.

Question 2

Does the ordinal number primeiro always go before the noun?

Accepted Answer

Yes, ordinal numbers up to 10th generally go before the noun in Portuguese, just like in English. So we say o primeiro prémio (the first prize), not o prémio primeiro.

Question 3

Since a team is a group of people, shouldn't the verb be plural (ganharam)?

Accepted Answer

Even though a team has many members, the word equipa is grammatically singular. Because of this, the verb must also be in the third-person singular: ganhou (it won). You would only use the plural if you were talking about multiple teams (as equipas).

Question 4

Why is there an A at the very beginning of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

In European Portuguese, possessive words like nossa (our) are usually preceded by a definite article (o, a, os, as). Because equipa is feminine and singular, we use A nossa equipa (which literally translates to 'The our team').

A nossa equipa ganhou o primeiro prémio.

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