Portuguese · Chapter 3 · Lesson 15 · Grammar primer
Question words: quem, o que, onde, quando
Five words and no word-order fight: the question word does the work and the rest of the sentence stays put.
The short version
Qual Ă© o seu nome, not o que Ă©
English uses what for two different questions, and Portuguese splits them. When you want a specific answer, a name, a number, a choice, use qual before Ă©. O que Ă© asks for a definition, so o que Ă© isso means what is that thing. O que Ă© o seu nome asks what a name is.
Qual Ă© o seu nome?
Por que asks, porque answers
Brazilian spelling has four versions that all sound the same. Two words when asking why, one word when saying because: por que vocĂȘ nĂŁo veio, porque estava doente. At the end of a question the word takes the stress and a circumflex: vocĂȘ nĂŁo veio por quĂȘ.
Por que vocĂȘ estĂĄ triste?
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 19 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.
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