Breakdown of Agora que está reformado, o meu avô costuma descansar.
estar
to be (temporary / location)
agora
now
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
descansar
to rest
que
that (conjunction)
o avô
the grandfather
costumar
to usually do
reformado
retired
Questions & Answers about Agora que está reformado, o meu avô costuma descansar.
How does costuma descansar translate to "usually rests" when there is no word for "usually" in the sentence?
The verb costumar means "to be in the habit of" or "to usually do something". In Portuguese, you don't need a separate adverb to express "usually". Instead, you just conjugate costumar (here it is costuma for "he usually") and follow it directly with the infinitive form of the action verb, which is descansar (to rest).
Why do we use está (from estar) for está reformado? Isn't retirement permanent?
Even though retirement feels permanent, Portuguese grammar treats reformado (retired) as an acquired state or a condition that someone has entered into, rather than an inherent characteristic. Because of this, you use estar (used for states and conditions) instead of ser (used for essence or permanent traits).
Why is there an o before meu avô?
In European Portuguese, it is standard practice to place a definite article (o, a, os, as) before a possessive pronoun like meu (my). So, instead of just saying "my grandfather", the grammar requires you to say "the my grandfather" (o meu avô).
How do we know está reformado means "he is retired" if the word for "he" is missing?
Portuguese frequently drops subject pronouns like ele (he) when the context makes it obvious. The verb está is conjugated for the third-person singular, and the second half of the sentence introduces o meu avô (my grandfather), which clearly tells us who is retired.
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