"O menino gosta do lobo."

Translation: The boy likes the wolf.

[MagaridaG]

The English translations are often in 'bad' English
de + o = do
de is a prepostion. It means something similar to 'of'. the verb 'gostar' always goes with 'de.' 'O' means 'the'. Together you get 'do'

[per_iocum]

i don't understand why does it mean the boy likes THE wolf and not the boy likes wolf

[Rob.Marian]

Because that, I suppose, would be "gosta de lobo". Here, as it says in an earlier comment, it is do, which is de+o.

[per_iocum]

yes, thanks, i've seen that comment later on. true

[mcjagger]

Why is this not just "O menino gosta o lobo"? Doesn't this translate to "The boy likes the wolf"?

[IsaFaith]

The correct grammar is "O menino gosta de o lobo" Instead of saying "de o", you can say 'do'. Remember that gosta (like) is always followed by 'de' in some form.

[Erik984884]

Thanks for clearing that up

[K.Alix]

Because with the verb "gostar" de must ALWAYS follow.

[dallanto123]

I was about to not be out of hearts until I accidentally put wolve instead of wolf

[Number4]

lol yea I have had the same problem many times

[Sr.Noble]

Could it be "The boy likes wolves"

[nobile]

so far we haven't been taught the plural of wolf... and saying "the boy likes wolf" sounds like he likes wolf meat :P

[dias.rr]

That would be "O menino gosta de lobos".

[AnittaBlunt]

how do i know when to use "do" or "de" ?

[Rob.Marian]

Well, do is de + o. If you want to say "She likes wolf" it is "Ela gosta de lobo". But for "She likes the wolf" you need the article "o" for "the", thus "Ela gosta do (=de+o) lobo."

[Marty62203]

I was marked wrong when I said "likes wolves" because elsewhere we were told that the singular substituted for the plural in English, i.e. "A sopa ten cenoura e batata."