Breakdown of A professora procura o apagador.
a professora
the teacher (f)
procurar
to look for / to seek to, to try to
o apagador
the board eraser
Questions & Answers about A professora procura o apagador.
Why is there no word for "for" after procura?
The verb procurar already means "to look for" or "to search for". Because the "for" is built into the meaning of the verb, you don't need to add a preposition like por after it. You just place the thing you are looking for directly after the verb: procura o apagador.
The English translation says "is looking for". Shouldn't the Portuguese be está a procurar?
You can definitely say está a procurar to emphasize that the action is happening right this very second. However, in Portuguese, the simple present tense (procura) is widely used to express actions happening right now, which is why it translates smoothly to "is looking for" here.
I learned that "eraser" is borracha. Can I use borracha in this sentence instead?
You could, but it would change the meaning slightly! An apagador is specifically a board eraser (used for chalkboards or whiteboards), which makes perfect sense for a teacher (a professora). A borracha is a rubber pencil eraser used for erasing mistakes on paper.
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