Breakdown of O anel da avó vale muito.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
muito
much / very
o anel
the ring
a avó
the grandmother
Questions & Answers about O anel da avó vale muito.
Why is there no word for "is" before vale?
In English, we say "is worth", using the verb "to be". In Portuguese, "to be worth" is a single verb: valer. Here, vale is the third-person singular form, so it means "is worth" all by itself. Adding an extra verb for "is" would be incorrect.
How can I remember that avó means grandma and not grandpa?
The acute accent (´) in avó (grandma) creates an open "aw" sound. Avô (grandpa) uses a circumflex accent (^), which makes a closed "oh" sound. You can also tell from the sentence: da is the feminine contraction of de + a, confirming we are talking about a woman.
Why is it da avó instead of just de avó?
To say "grandma's ring", Portuguese uses the structure "the ring of the grandma". In European Portuguese, you generally must include the definite article (the word for "the") before people's titles and names. So, we combine de (of) and a (the) to make da.
Does muito ever need to change to match a feminine or plural noun?
Not in this sentence! Here, muito means "a lot" and is describing the verb vale (how much the ring is worth), making it an adverb. Adverbs never change their ending. It would only change to muita or muitos if it were acting as an adjective directly attached to a noun, like muita prata (a lot of silver).