Breakdown of A primeira tarefa já está feita.
estar
to be (temporary / location)
já
already
primeiro
first
a tarefa
the task
feito
done
Questions & Answers about A primeira tarefa já está feita.
Why does the sentence use feita instead of the basic past participle feito?
Here, the irregular past participle of fazer (feito) is acting as an adjective to describe the noun. Since a tarefa (the task) is a feminine word, the participle must change to match its gender, becoming feita.
Wait, is feito completely irregular?
Yes. For regular verbs, the past participle ends in -ado or -ido. But fazer (to do / to make) has a highly irregular past participle: feito. This is one of a small group of common verbs you just have to memorize, along with words like aberto (opened) and dito (said).
Why do we use está (from estar) instead of é (from ser) to say the task is done?
We use estar because being done describes the current state or condition of the task resulting from an action. It is not a permanent, defining characteristic of the task itself, which is when you would typically use ser.
Could I put já at the end of the sentence, like A primeira tarefa está feita já?
It is much more natural to put já (already) immediately before the verb it modifies. While you might hear it at the end of a sentence in casual spoken Portuguese for extra emphasis, placing it before está is the standard and safest word order.
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