Prepositions of Place in Portuguese

In Brief

Portuguese most often uses em for a location, a or para for movement toward a destination, and de for movement from a place. These short words frequently combine with an article: em + o = no, a + a = à, and de + a = da. Longer expressions such as debaixo de, em frente de, and atrás de give a more exact position.

Overview

A preposition is a short word that connects a place to the rest of a sentence. In Estou em casa (“I am at home”), em connects the speaker’s location to casa. In Vou ao cinema (“I’m going to the cinema”), a introduces the destination. Portuguese does not make exactly the same choices as English: English in, on, and at can all correspond to em.

This is a core A1 topic because location appears in everyday questions and answers: where someone lives, where an object is, where a train is going, or where a person has come from. The beginner rule is straightforward: learn em for “where,” a/para for “where to,” and de for “where from.” Then learn the fixed multiword expressions for positions such as “under” and “behind.”

The extra challenge is contraction. A contraction is a combination of two small words into one form. Portuguese normally does not leave em, de, or a separate when a definite article (o, a, os, as—roughly “the”) follows. You therefore hear no escritório, da escola, and ao banco, not em o escritório, de a escola, or a o banco.

How It Works

The three basic relationships: location, destination, and origin

Meaning	Main form	Basic pattern	Example
location: where?	em	estar/ficar + em + place	Ela está em casa.
destination: where to?	a, para	ir/voltar + a/para + place	Vamos ao centro.
origin: where from?	de	vir/sair/voltar + de + place	Venho do centro.

Em covers a wider area than any single English preposition:

• in: Moro em Portugal. — “I live in Portugal.”
• at: Estou em casa. — “I am at home.”
• on: As chaves estão na mesa. — “The keys are on the table.”

Context usually makes the exact spatial relationship clear. If you need to stress that something is physically on top of a surface, use sobre or em cima de.

A marks movement to a destination, especially with verbs such as ir (“to go”) and voltar (“to return”): Vou ao cinema. Para also marks a destination, but often presents it as a direction or intended endpoint: O autocarro vai para o centro. With travel and relocation, para can suggest a longer stay, while a may suggest a visit or trip. This is a useful tendency, not an absolute rule.

De marks origin or movement away: Ela vem de Coimbra (“She comes from Coimbra”), Saí do hotel (“I left the hotel”). It also means “of,” but possession and description are beyond the central place meaning covered here.

Contractions with articles

A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. When a place noun uses a definite article, the preposition and article normally contract.

Preposition	+ o	+ a	+ os	+ as
em	no	na	nos	nas
de	do	da	dos	das
a	ao	à	aos	às

Examples:

• no quarto = em + o quarto (“in the bedroom”)
• na estação = em + a estação (“at the station”)
• do mercado = de + o mercado (“from the market”)
• à praia = a + a praia (“to the beach”)

The grave accent in à is not an optional decoration. It marks the joining of preposition a and article a, traditionally called crase. The plural is às. Masculine ao/aos has no grave accent.

Portuguese also contracts em and de with indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas): num, numa, nuns, numas and dum, duma, duns, dumas. The num/numa forms are common throughout Portuguese. Dum/duma are especially normal in European Portuguese; Brazilian writing often keeps de um/de uma separate.

Places with and without an article

Do not add an article merely because English has “the,” and do not omit one merely because English has none. Article use belongs partly to the name or expression:

• em casa — at home
• na escola — at school / in the school
• em Lisboa — in Lisbon
• no Porto — in Porto
• em Portugal — in Portugal
• no Brasil — in Brazil

Cities often appear without an article, but some regularly take one. Countries vary too. It is best to learn the preposition together with the place: em Lisboa, no Porto, em Portugal, no Brasil.

With people’s names and demonstratives, other contractions also occur: neste (em + este, “in this”), naquele (em + aquele, “in that”), deste (de + este, “from this”), and daquela (de + aquela, “from that”). These are common, but beginners can first master no/na, do/da, and ao/à.

Exact positions

Most detailed position expressions end in de. If an article follows, de contracts as usual.

Portuguese	Core meaning	Example
entre	between, among	entre o banco e a farmácia
sobre	on, over; also about	sobre a mesa
em cima de	on top of	em cima da mesa
debaixo de	under, underneath	debaixo da cama
em frente de	in front of	em frente do hotel
atrás de	behind	atrás da porta
ao lado de	next to, beside	ao lado da janela
perto de	near	perto da estação
longe de	far from	longe do centro
dentro de	inside	dentro da caixa
fora de	outside	fora da cidade

Entre does not take de: entre a mesa e a parede, not entre da mesa. By contrast, the final de in debaixo de or atrás de belongs to the whole expression and must remain before the following noun.

Com and sem

Com means “with” and sem means “without.” They are not location words by themselves, but they often complete descriptions of where someone or something is: Estou no café com a Ana (“I’m at the café with Ana”) and Há uma sala sem janelas (“There is a room without windows”). Unlike em, de, and a, they do not normally contract with the ordinary articles: com o, com a, sem o, sem a.

Examples in Context

Portuguese	English	Note
Estou em casa.	I am at home.	Fixed expression without an article
As crianças estão no jardim.	The children are in the garden.	no = em + o
O livro está sobre a mesa.	The book is on the table.	Physical position on a surface
O gato está debaixo da mesa.	The cat is under the table.	da = de + a
A farmácia fica entre o banco e o café.	The pharmacy is between the bank and the café.	Two reference points after entre
Há um táxi em frente do hotel.	There is a taxi in front of the hotel.	Multiword position expression
A bicicleta está atrás da garagem.	The bicycle is behind the garage.	da follows atrás de
Senta-te ao lado da janela.	Sit next to the window.	ao lado de means “next to”
Vou ao cinema depois do trabalho.	I’m going to the cinema after work.	ao = a + o
Amanhã vamos à praia.	Tomorrow we are going to the beach.	à = a + a
Este comboio vai para Lisboa.	This train goes to Lisbon.	para presents the destination
Ela vem do supermercado.	She is coming from the supermarket.	do = de + o
Eles moram numa aldeia perto do mar.	They live in a village near the sea.	numa = em + uma
Estou no restaurante com os meus colegas.	I’m at the restaurant with my colleagues.	com os stays separate
O carro está sem ninguém dentro.	The car has nobody inside it.	sem expresses absence

Common Mistakes

Translating English “at,” “in,” and “on” one by one

• Wrong: Estou a casa.
• Right: Estou em casa.
• Why: A static location normally uses em. Portuguese does not preserve the English division between at, in, and on.

Leaving a preposition and article separate

• Wrong: O gato está debaixo de a mesa.
• Right: O gato está debaixo da mesa.
• Why: de + a must become da. The same rule applies inside longer expressions ending in de.

Forgetting the contraction in a destination

• Wrong: Vou a o cinema.
• Right: Vou ao cinema.
• Why: Destination a combines with masculine article o to form ao. With feminine a, it forms à: Vou à praia.

Using em for movement in careful standard Portuguese

• Wrong: Amanhã vou na biblioteca.
• Right: Amanhã vou à biblioteca or Amanhã vou para a biblioteca.
• Why: In the standard language, a or para normally introduces the destination of ir. You may hear ir em/no/na in informal Brazilian speech, but it is not the safest general learner pattern.

Dropping de from a position expression

• Wrong: A mochila está atrás a porta.
• Right: A mochila está atrás da porta.
• Why: The expression is atrás de. Before a porta, de + a becomes da.

Assuming every city behaves alike

• Wrong: Moro no Lisboa.
• Right: Moro em Lisboa.
• Why: Lisboa normally has no article. Other place names do take one, as in no Porto. Learn article use with each name.

Usage Notes

European and Brazilian Portuguese share the central system, but everyday preferences differ. European Portuguese commonly uses a for a short trip—Vou ao mercado—and para when the endpoint or a longer stay is prominent. Standard Brazilian Portuguese also uses a and para, although para is very frequent in conversation and often shortens to pra/pro in informal speech: Vou pra casa. These spellings suit informal contexts, not careful formal writing.

For “under,” debaixo de is widely understood. Embaixo de is especially common in Brazil. For “on top of,” em cima de is often more conversational and spatially explicit than sobre. Sobre can also mean “about”: um livro sobre música (“a book about music”), so context matters.

You will encounter both em frente de and em frente a. With a, contractions produce forms such as em frente ao hotel and em frente à estação. Both patterns can express “in front of” or “opposite,” with regional and stylistic preferences. Copy the complete pattern used by reliable speakers rather than mixing its parts.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of these details at A1, but they explain forms you will see later.

First, a and para can change the way a journey is framed. Traditional explanations often contrast a temporary trip with a and a more lasting destination with para: Vou a Paris por três dias versus Vou para Paris trabalhar. Real usage is less rigid, especially in Brazil, but the contrast remains useful when interpreting a speaker’s choice.

Second, pronouns create special forms. Com combines with some personal pronouns: comigo (“with me”), contigo (“with you”), connosco in European Portuguese and conosco in Brazilian Portuguese (“with us”). This is different from its ordinary use before an article: com a Maria, com os amigos.

Third, a few location phrases distinguish position from movement through verb choice rather than preposition alone. Compare O quadro está sobre a mesa (“The picture is on the table”) with Põe o quadro sobre a mesa (“Put the picture on the table”). Portuguese can keep the same prepositional phrase while the verb supplies the static or directional meaning.

Finally, article use with place names can vary by region and local convention. A speaker may also include an article with a person’s name, particularly in European Portuguese and in many regions of Brazil: Estou com a Ana. This is normal usage, not a universal rule that applies identically everywhere.

Practice Tips

1. Learn location as a three-part set. Choose one place and make three sentences: Estou no mercado (location), Vou ao mercado (destination), and Venho do mercado (origin). Repeat with feminine and plural nouns.
2. Build contraction pairs aloud. Say em + a = na, de + a = da, and a + a = à, then put each result into a short sentence. This helps prevent forms such as de a and a a.
3. Draw a simple room. Place objects sobre a mesa, debaixo da cadeira, atrás da porta, and entre as janelas. Describe the picture from memory, then check every final de and contraction.

Related Concepts

• No prerequisite or downstream concepts were supplied for this grammar entry. Useful next topics to study are Portuguese definite articles, contractions, and verbs of movement.