Questions & Answers about Em breve chegam os avós.
Why is the verb before the subject here (chegam os avós)?
Chegam is in the present tense, but the translation says "are arriving soon". Why not use a future tense?
Portuguese frequently uses the present tense to talk about the near future or firmly planned events. Because the sentence includes em breve, the future context is already obvious, making the present tense chegam perfectly natural and more common than a strict future tense.
What exactly does em breve mean?
Em breve translates literally to "in brief," but it is the standard phrase used to say "soon" or "shortly" in Portuguese. You will see and hear it often in daily conversation and announcements.
Does os avós just mean "the grandfathers", or does it include grandmothers too?
Os avós means "the grandparents" (a mixed couple). In Portuguese, a mixed-gender group always takes the masculine plural form. If you wanted to specifically say "the grandfathers" (only men), the word is os avôs (notice the circumflex accent, which changes the pronunciation), while "the grandmothers" is as avós.
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