Hey Alex,
Could you explain the à in this sentence? Is it a combination of "a" [=to] + "a" for "the" (Spanish "la")?

The grave accent on the a bothered me... ;-)

Hi, Eldad!
Exactly. In Portuguese we usually use the article with "a". So yes, it would be like "to the your question"...

ao meu avô (a + o + meu + avô | preposition + article + possessive pronoun + noun) =to my grandfather
à minha avó (a + a + minha + avó | preposition + article + possessive pronoun + noun) =to my grandmother

or

a meu avô (a + meu + avô | preposition + possessive pronoun + noun) =to my grandfather
a minha avó (a + minha + avó | preposition + possessive pronoun + noun) =to my grandmother

In Portuguese you can use both structures! For more examples:
http://tatoeba.org/eng/sentence...comment-131433

Super! Thank you very much!

You said there (in the link) that using the accent is not mandatory (if I remember well what I read there). But here, in à, we need not forget it, do we?

Thank you very much. Actually, I learned this rule (of using the à) from one of your sentences in Tatoeba. So, I keep learning from you.

You don't need to use it here (because you have a possessive pronoun), so you can add both variants. Just think of "a la" in Spanish (preposition + f. article). That's our "à". The only difference lies in the possessive pronouns, because in Spanish you can't use the articles with them, but in Portuguese you can.

You can use the same rule for other prepositions before possessive pronouns:

- con mi amigo (Spanish)
com o meu amigo (RIGHT)
com meu amigo (RIGHT)

- en mi casa
na minha casa (RIGHT)
em minha casa (RIGHT)

=> Eu comprei isso com o meu dinheiro.
Eu comprei isso com meu dinheiro.
=> Escrevo isso em nome dos nossos amigos que se foram.
Escrevo isso em nome de nossos amigos que se foram.
=> Coisas estranhas acontecem na minha casa.
Coisas estranhas acontecem em minha casa.

> You said there (in the link) that using the accent is not mandatory

It's not mandatory with the possessive pronouns...

Thanks, I see.
Well, learning something new once again.

Last but not least for the current session - did I get right the following sentence:

Escrevo isso em nome dos nossos amigos que se foram.

I'm not sure, but:
I'm writing that on behalf of our friends who left.
(I'm not sure about "who left" - what does "se foram" mean?)

Yes, but "ir-se" also means "to die" or "to pass away".

Oh, didn't know that.
obgd! Até!

De nada!