Breakdown of Quando chegámos, não tinha sobrado nenhuma fatia de bolo.
não
not / no
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
ter
to have
o bolo
the cake
quando
when
chegar
to arrive
a fatia
the slice
nenhum
no / none / not any (quantity)
sobrar
to be left over
Questions & Answers about Quando chegámos, não tinha sobrado nenhuma fatia de bolo.
Why do we use tinha sobrado here instead of just the normal past tense?
This is the compound past perfect tense, which you form with the imperfect of ter (here, tinha) plus a past participle (sobrado). You use it to talk about an action that happened before another past action. The cake running out happened before the other past action of arriving (chegámos).
Why is there an accent mark on chegámos?
In European Portuguese, the past tense chegámos (we arrived) takes an acute accent on the a to indicate an open ah-sound. This distinguishes it from the present tense chegamos (we arrive), which is pronounced with a closed uh-sound.
Why are there two negative words (não and nenhuma) in this sentence?
How exactly does the verb sobrar work here?
The verb sobrar means to remain or to be left over. In English, a person is usually the subject, like when we say: we did not have any cake left. In Portuguese, the thing that remains is the subject. So, the sentence is structured as: no slice of cake had remained (não tinha sobrado nenhuma fatia de bolo).
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