- Forum >
- Topic: Portuguese >
- "He eats what?"
"He eats what?"
Translation:Ele come o quê?
32 Comments This discussion is locked.
I thought that we used "o" when talking to "you"....so "What do you eat" = "voce come o que?" But "He eats what?" would just be "Ele come que?"
Using the "o" is confusing.
The sentence is wrong!
- What does he eat? = O que ele come?
- He eats what? = ele come o quê?
what still means o que. When "o que" comes at the end of a sentence, you should add an accent: o quê
So there is no difference between "o que" and "o quê" in terms of meaning?
I guess it is also possible to write "O que come ele"? Compared to your sentence "O que ele come" is my word order less correct or "elegant"?
Any suggestions to learn how to use the accent ^ it always seems so random to me.
Didn't someone say it's used at the end of a sentence to keep the e sound from becoming an i like it usually does on the last syllable? I could be wrong.
I think when we are saying this question, What did he do? What is said with the same tone.
But, when we say, He did what? In this case, What has a raising tone to show it's a question and not just a statement. Just that in English there're no actions shown on words.
So when que is at the end of the sentence you use the tone that "raises and falls (^)" or just raise it. ele come o quê.
It's all about the sound. This is what helps me. I hope it does help you.
316
@Deborahcai So when your tone raises at the end of a question ending in "o quê" you have to "raise the roof" with that symbol, which is what I think that symbol looks like: a little roof. Does anyone know of a good source of the words for these symbols? I know accent aigu and accent grave from French, but I wish they would use the actual symbol's name. How must the symbol feel when no one even calls it by its name?
https://www.procaffenation.com/complete-guide-diacritical-marks/
Or more specifically for Portuguese https://www.learningportuguese.co.uk/guide/pronunciation/diacritics
They are diacritical marks
There's a lot of rules to how to use the accents, but i never saw anything related to this
https://www.soportugues.com.br/secoes/fono/fono9.php Proparoxítonas, paroxítonas e oxítonas - Só Português (In portuguese)
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/3094967/Portuguese-accents Portuguese accents - Duolingo (In English, but i never read this)
why is this sentence not "O quê come ele" and rather "Ele come o quê". Would really appreciate some responses
"O quê come ele" would be right if the original sentence was "what does he eat" but it is not. It might help to imagine that someone is disgusted at what someone else eats and is asking "he etas WHAT???" :)
Quê, with accent, is used in the end of the phrases: • O quê? (What) • Por quê? (Why)
Que, is used in the middle, not in the end: • O que ele come? (What does he eat?)
• O que come ele? (What does eat him)
• Ele é a pessoa que eu te contei (He is the person that i told you)
Yeah...someone please explain it because I am confused too. I did not learn anything about 'o que' and the structure of this sentence is funky looking. Please help!
Is "qual ele come ?" correct ? How do we know when using qual ou que or o quê ? thanks guys !
o quê is normally asking for a definition/fact while qual is used when there are options
Paulenrique, You must get tired of answering this, maybe I will understand this time.
You said: "Yes, because what = o quê (2 words)."
Isn't "que" also what? There are several times when we are to add a preface "O' or "De", How do I tell when it's necessary? I ask people here in Portugal and they shrug and say "Portuguese....it has so many rules", but no one is able to tell me the rule! Why must it be ele come O que?
Most of the time it is "o que".
Can you come up with some examples where it means "que"?
"de que" is used in interrogative sentences or subordinateb clauses where the verb demands the preposition "De"
- De que livro você gosta?
- Eu li o livro de que você gosta.
