Adverbs of place (advérbios de lugar) answer the question where. Portuguese has a richer place system than English: while English collapses everything into here and there, PT-PT distinguishes four main deictic adverbs — aqui, aí, ali, lá — plus the emotive cá and the archaic-but-still-alive acolá.
The difference matters. Aqui and cá both translate as "here," but they feel different. Aí, ali, and lá all translate as "there," but a PT-PT speaker will not use them interchangeably. Learning this system is the fastest way to upgrade your spatial Portuguese from textbook to natural.
The deictic set — here, there, yonder
Portuguese organises space around three points of reference: the speaker, the listener, and neither (away from both).
| Adverb | Where | Relative to | English gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| aqui | right here | speaker | here (where I am) |
| cá | here (emotive) | speaker, with feeling | here (over here, come here) |
| aí | there, near you | listener | there (where you are) |
| ali | there, visible point | specific location, usually in sight | there (that specific spot) |
| lá | there, far / general | away from both speaker and listener | there (over there, general) |
| acolá | yonder | a distant third point | yonder (archaic/poetic) |
Aqui vs Cá — here, with and without feeling
Both mean "here" in the basic sense of "where I am." The difference is emotional and directional.
Aqui is the neutral, informational "here." Use it to point to your location.
Aqui não há rede de telemóvel.
There's no mobile signal here.
Cá is the emotive "here." It draws the listener in, implies movement toward the speaker, or carries warmth, insistence, or familiarity. It is much more common in PT-PT than in PT-BR.
Vem cá!
Come here! (calling someone over)
Cá estou eu, finalmente!
Here I am, finally!
Anda cá, miúdo, deixa-me ver isso.
Come over here, kid, let me see that.
Cá em casa, costumamos jantar cedo.
Here at our place, we usually eat dinner early. (cá em casa is a fixed, warm expression)
A key pattern: verbs of motion prefer cá. You almost always hear vem cá, not vem aqui. Aqui is locative (where something is); cá is directional (where someone is coming).
Aí vs Ali vs Lá — three kinds of "there"
This is where Portuguese demands precision that English does not.
Aí = there, where you (the listener) are. It anchors the location to your interlocutor.
Como está o tempo aí em Lisboa?
How's the weather there in Lisbon? (I'm speaking to someone in Lisbon)
Espera aí um momento!
Wait there a moment!
Tens o livro aí contigo?
Do you have the book there with you?
Aí is also the standard word for "there" in casual telephone conversations when addressing the person on the other end: Como vai tudo aí? — "How's everything there (where you are)?"
Ali = there, a specific, usually visible point. You can often point to it.
Olha, ali está o café que eu te disse!
Look, there's the café I told you about!
O teu casaco está ali, na cadeira.
Your coat is there, on the chair.
Moram ali, naquele prédio azul.
They live there, in that blue building.
Lá = there, far away or general. It covers distance (physical or abstract) and vagueness.
Os meus primos vivem no Brasil. Eles estão lá desde 2015.
My cousins live in Brazil. They've been there since 2015.
Não sei, ele está lá em casa.
I don't know, he's at home. (home is away from here, general location)
Lá é muito frio no inverno.
It's very cold there in winter.
Lá is also the default place word in many fixed expressions: lá fora (outside, abroad), lá em cima (up there), lá para baixo (down south, down there), lá está (there it is, that's it), lá em casa (at our place).
The four-way contrast in one scene
Imagine you are sitting with a friend at a café, and you want to describe where things are:
Aqui, ao pé de mim, está o meu café. Aí, à tua frente, está o teu. Ali, na outra mesa, está o jornal que queria ler. E lá, no fim da rua, fica a livraria.
Here, next to me, is my coffee. There, in front of you, is yours. Over there, at the other table, is the newspaper I wanted to read. And there, at the end of the street, is the bookshop.
Acolá — yonder
Acolá is archaic and literary, but alive in set phrases and regional speech. It indicates a third, more distant or contrasting point.
Ora aqui, ora acolá — não param quietos.
Here and there — they won't sit still. (fixed expression)
O homem estava ali e a mulher acolá.
The man was there and the woman was over yonder. (literary contrast)
Prepositional adverbs — "near," "far," "inside," and friends
Portuguese has a productive set of locational words that can stand alone as adverbs (where the location is inferred) or combine with de to become prepositions (where the location is specified).
| Adverb | Preposition (+de) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| perto | perto de | near, near to |
| longe | longe de | far, far from |
| dentro | dentro de | inside, inside of |
| fora | fora de | outside, out of |
| em cima | em cima de | on top, on top of |
| em baixo | em baixo de / por baixo de | below, underneath |
| atrás | atrás de | behind |
| à frente | à frente de / em frente de | in front, in front of |
| ao lado | ao lado de | next to, beside |
| ao pé | ao pé de | next to (PT-PT favourite) |
| por cima | por cima de | over, above |
| junto | junto de / junto a | close to, by |
| à volta | à volta de | around |
O banco fica perto — perto do Jardim da Estrela, mesmo.
The bank is nearby — right near Jardim da Estrela.
Os miúdos estão lá fora, no jardim.
The kids are out there, in the garden.
O gato está sempre em cima do sofá.
The cat is always on top of the sofa.
A farmácia fica ao pé da igreja.
The pharmacy is next to the church.
PT-PT vs PT-BR — ao pé de, por baixo de, em frente de
Ao pé de (literally "at the foot of") is the characteristic PT-PT way to say "next to, beside." PT-BR tends to prefer perto de or ao lado de. Learning ao pé de is a quick PT-PT tell.
Senta-te ao pé de mim, podemos conversar.
Sit next to me, we can talk.
Em frente de and à frente de both mean "in front of" and are interchangeable in most contexts, with em frente de slightly more common in writing.
A minha casa fica em frente da escola.
My house is across from the school.
Combining place adverbs with cá, lá, aqui, ali
A notable feature of PT-PT: you can prefix the deictic adverbs to locational phrases to sharpen the sense of where.
| Combination | Meaning |
|---|---|
| cá em cima | up here |
| cá em baixo | down here |
| cá dentro | in here |
| cá fora | out here |
| lá em cima | up there |
| lá em baixo | down there |
| lá dentro | in there |
| lá fora | out there / abroad |
| aqui ao pé | right here, nearby |
| lá longe | far away |
O meu quarto é lá em cima, no segundo andar.
My room is up there, on the second floor.
Cá em baixo ainda está frio.
Down here it's still cold.
Ele vive lá fora há anos — acho que em Londres.
He's been living abroad for years — I think in London.
The phrase lá fora in PT-PT often means specifically abroad (outside Portugal), not just "outside." Context disambiguates: os miúdos estão lá fora in the garden context means "out in the garden"; ele foi trabalhar para lá fora means "he went abroad to work."
Algures, alhures, nenhures — archaic but still read
These three adverbs — meaning somewhere, elsewhere, nowhere — are marked (literary) in modern PT-PT. You will see them in literature and journalism, and occasionally in elevated speech. In everyday conversation, speakers prefer em algum lado / nalgum sítio / em lado nenhum.
| Archaic/literary | Everyday equivalent | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| algures | em algum lado / nalgum sítio | somewhere |
| alhures | noutro lado / noutro sítio | elsewhere |
| nenhures | em lado nenhum / em sítio nenhum | nowhere |
Não encontro as chaves em lado nenhum!
I can't find the keys anywhere! (everyday)
A verdade deve estar algures entre as duas versões.
The truth must be somewhere between the two versions. (literary)
Position — where place adverbs go
Like time adverbs, place adverbs are flexible. The default is after the verb or clause-final.
Eles vivem aqui.
They live here.
Pousa o saco ali, por favor.
Put the bag down there, please.
Fronted for emphasis or contrast:
Aqui a vida é mais calma; lá é tudo uma correria.
Here life is calmer; there it's all a rush.
With compound verbs, place adverbs usually follow the main verb:
Temos estado aqui há duas horas.
We've been here for two hours.
Common mistakes
❌ Vem aqui!
For calling someone over, PT-PT strongly prefers *cá* — the emotive 'here.'
✅ Vem cá!
Come here!
❌ Está ali um problema (when talking to someone on the phone).
*Ali* is for visible, specific spots. On the phone, where you can't see, use *aí* (there, where you are) or *lá* (there, general).
✅ Está aí um problema? / Está lá um problema?
Is there a problem there?
❌ A farmácia é perto da igreja.
For the **location of a place**, PT-PT prefers *ficar*. *Ser* is accepted; *estar* is less natural.
✅ A farmácia fica perto da igreja.
The pharmacy is near the church.
❌ O livro está em cima a mesa.
The preposition is *em cima de*, and *de + a* contracts to *da*.
✅ O livro está em cima da mesa.
The book is on top of the table.
❌ Ele está lá no seu carro (pointing at it).
If you can see the car and you're pointing, *ali* is the right choice. *Lá* is for distant or unspecified locations.
✅ Ele está ali, no carro dele.
He's there, in his car.
❌ Nenhures eu o vejo.
*Nenhures* is a literary adverb; in speech, PT-PT uses *em lado nenhum* with double negation.
✅ Não o vejo em lado nenhum.
I don't see him anywhere.
❌ Os meus primos estão no estrangeiro — eles estão em fora.
The fixed expression for 'abroad' as a location is *lá fora* or *no estrangeiro*; *em fora* is ungrammatical.
✅ Os meus primos estão lá fora. / Estão no estrangeiro.
My cousins are abroad.
❌ O café é longe. (to mean 'it is far')
For distance from a location, PT-PT prefers *ficar*.
✅ O café fica longe. / É longe.
The café is far. (both are heard; *fica* is more natural in PT-PT)
Key takeaways
- Portuguese distinguishes aqui / cá (here — neutral vs emotive), aí (there, where you are), ali (there, visible point), lá (there, far or general), and acolá (yonder, archaic).
- Cá is a PT-PT signature: vem cá, cá em casa, cá estou. Aqui is neutral; cá is warm, directional, and draws the listener in.
- Aí is the default "there" when talking to someone on the phone or about their location; ali is for specific visible points; lá is for distant or general places.
- Prepositional adverbs like perto, longe, dentro, fora, em cima, ao pé become prepositions by adding de: perto de casa, em cima da mesa, ao pé da igreja.
- Combine the deictics with locative words for precision: cá em baixo, lá em cima, lá fora (often "abroad" in PT-PT).
- Algures, alhures, nenhures exist but are literary; in speech, use em algum lado, noutro sítio, em lado nenhum.
- For the location of buildings and places, PT-PT prefers ficar over ser/estar: a igreja fica perto.
Related Topics
- Adverbs OverviewA2 — Introduction to Portuguese adverbs — what they are, the main semantic classes, how they are formed, and how European Portuguese adverbs differ from their English equivalents.
- Adverbs of TimeA1 — Portuguese time adverbs — hoje, ontem, amanhã, agora, já, ainda, sempre, nunca — with the nuances that make them tricky for English speakers.
- Adverbial PhrasesB1 — Multi-word adverbial expressions (locuções adverbiais) in European Portuguese — how they are built, the most common ones by category, when they replace -mente adverbs, and the colloquial reflex that makes PT-PT speech sound native.
- Adverb Placement RulesA2 — Where Portuguese adverbs actually go, organised by type — manner, frequency, time, place, degree, and sentence adverbs — with the practical defaults, the allowed alternatives, and the mistakes English speakers make most often.