Breakdown of Ela escondeu os guarda-joias debaixo dos sofás-camas.
ela
she
debaixo de
under
esconder
to hide
o
him/it (m)
o guarda-joias
the jewelry box
o sofá-cama
the sofa bed
Questions & Answers about Ela escondeu os guarda-joias debaixo dos sofás-camas.
Why doesn't the word guarda-joias change in the plural?
Guarda-joias (jewelry box) is a compound word made of a verb (guarda) and a noun that is already plural (joias). In Portuguese, verbs inside compound nouns never take a plural 's'. Since joias is already plural, the word looks exactly the same in both forms. You just change the article: o guarda-joias becomes os guarda-joias.
Why do both parts of sofás-camas get an 's'?
Sofá-cama is made of two nouns (sofá and cama). When a compound word is formed by two nouns, both parts usually take the plural form. So, sofá becomes sofás and cama becomes camas, giving us sofás-camas. This is the standard rule, unlike verb-noun compounds where the verb stays singular.
Why use dos after debaixo instead of just os?
Does adding an 's' to sofá change the accent mark?
No, adding an 's' for the plural doesn't change the stress rules here. Sofá has an accent to show the stress falls on the final syllable. When it becomes sofás, the stress remains on that same letter, so the accent mark stays exactly where it is.
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