"Ela perde as suas chaves."

Translation:She loses her keys.

December 22, 2012

41 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Libor

looses should qualify 4 a typo ;)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/BlackHeart01

A question. You also can to say "Ela perde suas chaves"? it's necessary the word "as" ?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/vivisaurus

No, it is not necessary in this case. I suppose we have decided as a people to get rid of some redundant articles. BUT! It's never wrong to use it, when in doubt.

Also, I've noticed when these questions come up, that when there are two articles in a short sentence (like the duolingo sentences) it is safest to not skip the first article, if you're not sure. That one is usually doing a better job than the second one. This is an untested hypothesis, so if anyone does this, let me know if it works well. But r_i_l_e_y has a good point there, you should listen to him.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/r_i_l_e_y

I think "as suas", "a minha", "o teu" etc is the standard for european portuguese but "suas", "minha", "teu" is the standard for brazilian portuguese.


[deactivated user]

    No, we Brazilans speak both ways, without distinction.


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/amhedh

    I also want to know this. When is it OK to omit the article?


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Kaoriocha

    'loses' and 'lost'? When did we study different tenses?


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/MarkParish

    I haven't checked, but I assume there will be a section for pretérito/imperfeito (past tenses) later down the list. Just know that here we present tense(informal I think) and there are KEY differences between the two.


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/TimothyJohns

    how do we know if "suas" is "hes" or "yours"? are there any rules around this?


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/vivisaurus

    Duolingo and the formal rules of Portuguese say that

    teu/tua = your or yours
    seu/sua = his/her

    Please note that in speech, Brazilians usually keep it simple and say seu/sua for both cases. I hope that helps! =]


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Simon823426

    Are there parts of Brasil where they don't use teu/tua at all?


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/E_Mabe

    Yes, my wife claims that TU only are used in the far south and not in the rest of Brazil.


    https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Scutigera

    And Angola, and Mozambique, and East Timor, and Macau, and Goa, and Guinea-Bissau, and Cape Verde, and São Tomé e Príncipe, as well as Daman, and Diu, and Malacca in Malaysia...

    Added to the 27 million all over Brazil:

    https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugu%C3%AAs_brasileiro#/media/File:Segunda_pessoa_do_singular_no_portugu%C3%AAs.png


    [deactivated user]

      It is used in some parts, others not, but you can't that is used only in the south part, I live in Brasília and I see many people saying it.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/chaser120

      I have never heard teu/tua used in Belo Horizonte except by Portuguese people or older people.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GregHannan

      I think that when there's confusion as to whether it's yours or his, suas is assumed to mean yours and his would be "as chaves dele". Happy to be corrected though!


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/ddewilliams

      Is it also possible to have as a correct transition: She loses their keys. ?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/LeiFan2

      Same question! Why I got a wrong answer when I translated to their keys....


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/MarkParish

      I believe seus/suas indicates onde person possessing many objects.. So only for he she you(singular) , not they.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Scutigera

      Actually seus/suas is connected to the plural of keys (chaves) here, not the singular or plural of the 3rd person pronouns. So yes, it should be possible for the answer to be, "their keys."

      Ela is the subject noun, while chaves is the object noun (possessed in this case) and the possessive is attached to the object independently of the subject here.

      To avoid that ambiguity the sentence could be structured as, "Ela perde as chaves deles/delas." (She loses the keys of theirs). At least if "their keys" was what was meant.

      With the 3rd person of "seu/sua" there is much ambiguity as it could be yours, his/hers, theirs, its, and even the plural yours). Well, that is one reason many of the Brazilians mix in the 2nd Person declensions of teu[s]/tua[s] because those only mean "yours" in the singular.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/melesana

      The drop-down conjugation says "eu perco", and the rest of the conjugation is regular for "perder." Is "eu perco" correct? It seems a strange way for a verb to be irregular.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Falaportuguese12

      Could I write Ela perde chaves dela


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Paulenrique

      Ela perde as chaves dela.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Falaportuguese12

      Thanks....need the article, right?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Paulenrique

      Yes, whenever you use "dele(s)" and "dela(s)", you need to add the article accordingly. ;)


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/garycastell

      In the previous sentence "nos perdemos nossas chaves" meant:"we lost our keys". so how come:"ela perde sus chaves" means :"she loses her keys" ?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Pros

      That's because present and past for "perder" for "nós" are conjugated the same: "perdemos". So "nos perdemos nossas chaves" can also mean "we loose our keys". For "ela" it's not the same: "ela perde", "ela perdeu".


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Voorntje

      Why should "she misses her keys" be wrong?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/melesana

      Doesn't the as specify the keys as hers? Not his.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Pros

      "as" applies to the keys: a chave, as chaves and not to her or him.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/lgriffith89

      she lost her keys?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/vivisaurus

      That would be Ela perdeu as suas chaves or Ela perdeu as chaves dela. =)


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/spencergan4

      could this be "she loses your keys"? or is it only "she loses her keys"?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Paulenrique

      It can be used for both of them.


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/karmekiad

      "She lost her keys"...how would on say this


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/PetoG

      How would you say: "She loses his keys."?


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/vivisaurus

      You could just say it the same way (you would have to go by context), but if we want to be clearer, we'd just say "ela perde as chaves dele". =)


      https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Stevie159721

      How do you know when sua is his/her or your? Is it the context that you just have to know?

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