| Grammar Notes: Full translation: The picture shows a girl in a yellow dress hugging a big dog. Word by word - A – feminine singular definite article = “the”. It shows that imagem is feminine and singular. - imagem – feminine noun = image, picture. Plural: imagens. - mostra – third-person singular present indicative of mostrar (infinitive) = shows. The subject is A imagem. - uma – feminine singular indefinite article = “a/an”. It agrees with menina. - menina – feminine noun = girl. - de – preposition = of, from, in. Here it introduces a description: de vestido amarelo = “in a yellow dress” / “wearing a yellow dress”. - vestido – masculine noun = dress. In this sentence it is a noun, not a verb form. - amarelo – adjective = yellow. It is masculine singular because it describes vestido. - abraçando – gerund of abraçar (infinitive) = hugging, embracing. It describes what the girl is doing. - um – masculine singular indefinite article = “a”. It agrees with cachorro. - cachorro – masculine noun = dog. - grande – adjective = big, large. It describes cachorro. Grammar of the sentence - Subject: A imagem. - Verb: mostra. - Direct object: uma menina de vestido amarelo abraçando um cachorro grande. - Inside that object, de vestido amarelo describes menina. - abraçando um cachorro grande is a gerund phrase describing what the girl is doing. Its object is um cachorro grande. - Agreement: A and uma are feminine; um is masculine. amarelo agrees with vestido. grande agrees with cachorro in number, though grande is the same for masculine and feminine singular. General grammar tip Portuguese adjectives normally agree in gender and number with the noun they describe, and they often come after the noun. Vestido amarelo = yellow dress; cachorro grande = big dog. Putting grande before the noun can change the sense: um grande cachorro often means “a great dog” rather than “a physically big dog”. Related words - menino = boy, related to menina - vestir = to dress, to wear, related to vestido - abraço = hug, related to abraçar - cachorra = female dog, related to cachorro - grandão / grandona = big, huge, informal, related to grande - mostra as a noun = exhibition, show, related to mostrar |
