Breakdown of Atravessamos a fronteira de manhã.
de manhã
in the morning
atravessar
to cross
a fronteira
the border
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Questions & Answers about Atravessamos a fronteira de manhã.
How do we know this means "we cross" (present) and not "we crossed" (past)?
In European Portuguese, regular -ar verbs have different spellings for the present and past tense in the nós (we) form. The present tense is atravessamos (with no accent), while the past tense requires an acute accent on the letter 'a': atravessámos. Since this sentence lacks the accent, it has to be the present tense.
Where is the word for "we" (nós) in this sentence?
In Portuguese, it is very common to drop the subject pronoun because the verb ending tells you who is doing the action. The -amos ending on atravessamos makes it completely clear that "we" are crossing. You only need to include nós if you want to add emphasis.
Why does the sentence use de manhã instead of na manhã to say "in the morning"?
When you are talking about a general time of day when an action happens, Portuguese uses the preposition de. You will see this in everyday phrases like de manhã (in the morning), de tarde (in the afternoon), and de noite (at night). You generally only use na (in the) if you are pointing out a specific morning, like na manhã de domingo (on Sunday morning).
Do I need a preposition after the verb, like saying "cross over" the border in English?