Breakdown of Ou andas a treinar para a maratona, ou a fazer ioga.
para
to / for
fazer
to do
ou
or
o
him/it (m)
Questions & Answers about Ou andas a treinar para a maratona, ou a fazer ioga.
Why is andas a treinar translated as "you have been training" instead of "you walk to train"?
The structure andar a followed by an infinitive (like treinar) is a verbal periphrasis. It does not mean "to walk" here. Instead, it expresses an action that has been happening repeatedly or continuously over a recent period of time up to now. It is the Portuguese equivalent of the English present perfect continuous tense.
Why is the second verb just a fazer instead of repeating the whole phrase andas a fazer?
To avoid repetition, Portuguese often drops the auxiliary verb (in this case, andas) in the second half of the sentence. However, you must keep the preposition a before the second infinitive (fazer) to show that it is still part of that continuous andar a structure.
How do you say "either... or" in Portuguese, as seen in this sentence?
You use the structure ou... ou.... The first ou means "either", and the second ou means "or". Placing them before each of the two options (andas a treinar and a fazer ioga) perfectly mirrors the English "either... or..." pattern.
Why do we use para a instead of pela (por + a) before maratona?