"As moscas comem um abacaxi."

Translation: The flies eat a pineapple.

[jolop17]

Can't hear the "um."

[LydellWill]

How do you know if its 1 or the?

[Mesmorino]

"One" is "um/uma", and "The" is "o/a". If you meant how do you know if it's "1" or "a/an", it's from context. With no context, Duo usually accepts both "1" and "a/an" for "um/uma"

[Adryta]

A (female) or O(male)=The
Um (male), Uma (female)=a

[oagomez0]

Is it abacaxi or abacaxí?

[Paulenrique]

well, if you tending on spelling, it is abacaxi. Regarding to phonic, it's abacaxí once the stressed syllable is the last one ("xi")

[Mesmorino]

What's the difference between the two; do they mean different things? (Like with Secretaria: office and secretary)

[Paulenrique]

No difference. Just mentioned how it is pronounced =). And secretária (secretary) has an accent to differenciate the spelling and pronunciation.

[Mesmorino]

Thanks! Duo doesn't have voice exercises for Portuguese yet so I don't get a lot of practice with pronunciations. I just try to say words the way the duo robot says them :p

[AlastairTait]

I thought abacaxi means avacado? Pineapple is annas?

[OanaFairy]

Ananas is for european portuguese

[sharkbbb]

Pineapple:

• ananás - preferred word in Portugal
• abacaxi - preferred word in Brazil

[rashtrakut]

Interesting... The Portugal word ananas (along with Batata for potato) has been imported into Marathi.... Probably via the long held Portuguese colony in Goa right next door

[sharkbbb]

This is the most used name for this fruit across the world, including its scientific name.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pineapple#Translations

[Mesmorino]

"Avocado" is "abacate". I don't know what annas is though

[JessdelMun]

How can you tell the difference between eat & eats

[Mesmorino]

In English, the verb changes from plural to singular depending on the number of people performing the action. So you have "They eat", and "He/she eats".

In Portuguese, the forms of the verb differ similarly- So you have "A mosca come um abacaxi" (The fly eats a pineapple), and "As moscas comem um abacaxi" (The flies eat a pineapple).

In English, singular users get the plural forms of the verbs (He eats/walks/sleeps), and plural users get the singular forms of the verbs (They eat/walk/sleep)

In Portuguese, singular users get the singular form of the verb (Ele come/caminha/dorme), and plural users get the plural forms of the verbs (Eles comem/caminham/dormem)

[sharkbbb]

This is not correct. The "s" in "he eats" is not an indication of plurality, as much as the "s" in "tu comes" is not either. Verbs usually change (conjugate) in a completely different way compared to nouns/adjectives/pronouns. In English present simple tense the usual pattern is very simple. Third person singular verbs end in -s. All other forms are the same as the infinitive:

• I/you/we/they eat (note that "I" is singular, but takes the same form as the plurals)

• he/she/it eats

[alonso.hxc]

Wouldn't "the flies eat the pineapple" make more sense?

[Mesmorino]

It would, but we're not making sense of the sentence... We're translating it. I don't disagree with you, and making sense would greatly help the learning process, but it's like "dois mais dois é cinco". The correct translation is "two plus two is five", but that obviously doesn't make sense, you know? Even in Portuguese it doesn't make sense lol, but that's what the translation is.