Breakdown of O país foi invadido pelo exército.
ser
to be
o país
the country
por
through / by / for / because of
invadir
to invade
o exército
the army
Questions & Answers about O país foi invadido pelo exército.
How can I tell if foi means 'was' (from ser) or 'went' (from ir) in this sentence?
Context and grammar give it away! When foi is immediately followed by a past participle like invadido, it forms the passive voice. The verb ir (to go) wouldn't make sense here. So, foi is the past tense of ser, meaning 'was'.
Why does the word invadido end in an 'o'? Does it change depending on the subject?
Yes, it does! In the passive voice formed with ser, the past participle (invadido) acts like an adjective. This means it must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. Since O país is masculine and singular, invadido takes the masculine singular ending -o. If the subject were feminine, like A cidade (The city), it would be foi invadida.
Why do we use pelo here instead of just por for 'by'?
In a passive sentence, the person or thing doing the action is introduced by the preposition por. However, in Portuguese, we usually include the definite article ('the') before the noun. Exército is a masculine singular noun, so it needs the article o. When you combine por + o, it contracts to pelo ('by the').
How would I change this sentence back into the active voice?
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