Breakdown of O que é que derramaste na madeira?
ser
to be
o que
what
em
in / on / at
que
that (conjunction)
a madeira
the wood
derramar
to spill
Questions & Answers about O que é que derramaste na madeira?
Why is the question phrase O que é que so long? Couldn't we just say O que?
You could just say O que derramaste?, but in everyday spoken Portuguese from Portugal, people almost always add é que (literally "is it that") after question words. It makes the question sound much more natural and flow better in conversation.
How does the phrase O que é que affect pronoun placement, since this lesson is about proclisis?
The word que is a powerful "magnet" word for clitic pronouns. Even though this specific sentence doesn't use an object pronoun, if you added one, the que would pull it right before the verb. For example, if you wanted to ask "What did you give him?", it would be O que é que lhe deste?, with the pronoun lhe placed before the verb instead of after it.
How do we know who spilled the liquid?
The ending of the verb derramaste tells us the subject is tu (the informal "you"). For regular -ar verbs like derramar in the simple past tense (Pretérito Perfeito), the tu form always ends in -aste.
Why does the sentence use na instead of just em for "on"?
Na is the mandatory contraction of the preposition em (in/on) and the feminine word for "the" (a). We use it here because you are talking about a specific piece or surface of wood (a madeira), so we literally say "on the wood" rather than just "on wood".
Learn O que é que derramaste na madeira and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free