Breakdown of A galinha comeu o pão do quintal.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
o pão
the bread
comer
to eat
o quintal
the backyard
a galinha
the hen, the chicken
Questions & Answers about A galinha comeu o pão do quintal.
Why does the sentence use do quintal instead of no quintal to mean in the backyard?
The word do is a contraction of de (of/from) and o (the). Literally, this says the bread of the backyard. It describes the bread itself, like bread specifically left out in the yard. If you used no quintal, which is em (in/on) plus o, it would focus on where the hen was when she ate. The English translation in the backyard captures the natural meaning either way.
I thought the word for chicken was frango. Why use galinha here?
In Portugal, galinha refers to the live female bird, a hen, which makes perfect sense for a bird walking around a yard. When you are talking about chicken as food, like the meat you buy at the supermarket or order at a restaurant, you use the word frango.
What tense is comeu?
It is the simple past tense, called the Pretérito Perfeito, of the regular verb comer (to eat). The word comeu is the form used for ele, ela, or você. If you wanted to say I ate, you would use comi.
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