A1 (Beginner)Lesson 3: Prepositions & Contractions
The phrases that let you say where something actually is: em cima de (on top of), embaixo de (under), dentro de (inside), atrás de (behind), ao lado de (next to), perto de (near) and more. Almost all of them follow a single pattern — phrase + de + article — with the de contracting into do and da the way you already know. Two of them, entre and sobre, skip the de entirely.
location phrase + de + article → em cima da mesa (on top of the table) · ao lado do banco (next to the bank) — but entre and sobre take no de
Sign up to save your progress, practice exercises and unlock all grammar content.
The master pattern is [location phrase] + de + article: em cima da mesa (on top of the table), ao lado do banco (next to the bank).
That de contracts just as you already know: de + o = do, de + a = da, de + os = dos, de + as = das.
Learn them as opposites: em cima de / embaixo de, dentro de / fora de, perto de / longe de, atrás de / na frente de.
entre (between) and sobre (on, about) take no de: entre a casa e o banco (between the house and the bank).
Places answer with ficar, people and movable things with estar: O banco fica perto da praia. (The bank is near the beach.) · A Maria está atrás de mim. (Maria is behind me.)
embaixo de and debaixo de both mean "under" and both are normal in Brazil.
Brazilians say na frente de far more than à frente de, which sounds formal.
You can already say you are na praia (at the beach) or no hotel (at the hotel) — but not where anything is once you get there, and "where is it?" is the question you will ask and be asked most often in Brazil. Without these phrases you can only point. With them you can answer a stranger, find a bathroom, describe your street and follow the directions people give you back. They are cheap to learn, too: one pattern, one little de, and contractions you already own from the last lesson.
Portuguese builds nearly every location phrase out of the same three pieces:
That little de is not decoration and it is not optional — it is the glue between the location word and the thing you are locating. And since de runs straight into an article, it contracts, exactly the way you learned in the last lesson:
O gato está em cima da mesa. (The cat is on top of the table.) — de + a
O carro está atrás do hotel. (The car is behind the hotel.) — de + o
A farmácia fica perto dos bancos. (The pharmacy is near the banks.) — de + os
| Portuguese | Meaning |
|---|---|
| O ônibus para na frente da padaria. | The bus stops in front of the bakery. |
| A farmácia fica ao lado do mercado. | The pharmacy is next to the market. |
| O gato dorme em cima do carro. | The cat sleeps on top of the car. |
| Tem um café dentro do hotel. | There's a café inside the hotel. |
| Os meninos brincam fora de casa. | The boys play outside the house. |
| Eu trabalho perto da estação. | I work near the station. |
| A cidade fica longe do aeroporto. | The city is far from the airport. |
| O banco fica entre a praça e o restaurante. | The bank is between the square and the restaurant. |
Dropping the de. English glues "behind the house" together with one word; Portuguese needs the de, and the de then contracts. ❌ atrás a casa → ✅ atrás da casa (behind the house). The same goes for perto, longe, dentro, fora and em cima.
Reaching for ser to ask where something is. ❌ Onde é o banco? → ✅ Onde fica o banco? (Where's the bank?) Keep ser for events, where it really is correct: ✅ Onde é a festa? (Where's the party?)
Saying de eu. After a preposition, "me" is mim. ❌ perto de eu → ✅ perto de mim (near me). Likewise atrás de mim, na frente de mim.
Contracting for the wrong gender. The contraction follows the noun, not the location phrase: mesa is feminine, carro is masculine. ✅ em cima da mesa (on top of the table), ✅ em cima do carro (on top of the car) — never em cima do mesa.
Over-using em cima de for ordinary surfaces. Brazilians usually just say em + article: O livro está na mesa. (The book is on the table.) Save em cima de for when "on top of" is genuinely the point.
Writing duma and dum. De does not contract with um / uma in writing. ✅ ao lado de uma escola (next to a school). You will certainly hear duma in speech, but keep the two words on paper.
Get full access to grammar lessons, exercises, vocabulary and personalized review with a free Falando account.
