The preposition a (to, at) has a smaller set of contractions than de or em, but it includes the single most visually distinctive one in Portuguese: the grave accent on à and às. This tiny mark is not decoration. It is the orthographic signal that tells the reader these two letters are not a bare feminine article — they are a preposition and an article fused together. Writing a where you should write à changes the grammar of the sentence. Writing às without the accent turns at five o'clock into the meaningless the five o'clocks.
This page catalogs every contraction of a, explains the logic of the grave accent, and clears up a terminology point: in European Portuguese, this contraction is simply called contração or aglutinação. The term crase, which you may encounter in Brazilian Portuguese grammars, is not used in PT-PT pedagogy.
At a glance
| a + | Contracted form | Status |
|---|---|---|
| o (m.sg. article) | ao | obligatory |
| a (f.sg. article) | à | obligatory |
| os (m.pl. article) | aos | obligatory |
| as (f.pl. article) | às | obligatory |
| aquele / aqueles | àquele / àqueles | obligatory |
| aquela / aquelas | àquela / àquelas | obligatory |
| aquilo | àquilo | obligatory |
| este/esse/isto/isso | no contraction — remain separate | — |
| um/uma/uns/umas | no contraction — remain separate | — |
| ele/ela/eles/elas | no contraction — remain separate | — |
The compact size of this list is misleading. The contractions that do exist appear in every conversation — clock times, destinations, indirect objects, and the distinctive PT-PT até ao / até à construction all rely on them.
a + definite articles: ao, à, aos, às
These four contractions are the most common. They appear every time the preposition a meets any of the four definite articles.
| o (m.sg.) | a (f.sg.) | os (m.pl.) | as (f.pl.) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ao | à | aos | às |
Vou ao supermercado comprar fruta.
I'm going to the supermarket to buy fruit.
Dei o presente à minha sobrinha ontem.
I gave my niece the present yesterday.
Ele telefonou aos avós no domingo.
He called his grandparents on Sunday.
O filme começa às nove da noite.
The film starts at nine in the evening.
Every movement toward a place introduced by an article (vou *ao café, fomos à praia*), every indirect object linked to an article (*dei o livro ao Pedro*, *escrevi à minha mãe), and every clock time (às oito, *ao meio-dia) produces one of these four contractions. If you can reliably recognize and write ao, à, aos, às, you have mastered the spine of the Portuguese preposition a.
The grave accent: what it is and why it exists
In the four contracted forms above, ao and aos look straightforward — two letters of the preposition and the article run together. The feminine forms are more visually striking, because merging a + a gives you just... a. Without a diacritic, there would be no way to distinguish the preposition-plus-article from the bare article.
Portuguese solves this with the grave accent: à. The mark is not about pronunciation (the vowel is the same as a bare a); it is purely orthographic. It says: this is a contraction, read it with the grammar of two merged words.
A loja está fechada.
The shop is closed. (a = bare article)
Vou à loja agora.
I'm going to the shop now. (à = preposition a + article a, contracted)
As horas passam depressa.
The hours go by fast. (as = bare article, plural)
Encontramo-nos às três da tarde.
Let's meet at three in the afternoon. (às = preposition a + article as, contracted)
The difference of a single mark can completely reroute the grammar of a sentence. A casa da Maria é grande means Maria's house is big (a is the feminine article introducing casa). Vou à casa da Maria means I'm going to Maria's house (à is preposition + article). Missing that accent is a frequent mistake for beginners, and it is one of the fastest ways to signal that you are not yet fluent.
No "crase" in PT-PT pedagogy
If you have studied Brazilian Portuguese or encountered Brazilian grammar materials, you may have seen this phenomenon called crase (from Greek krâsis, merging). Brazilian school grammar teaches entire units on a crase — when it occurs, when it is forbidden, and the special rules for proper nouns and feminine places.
European Portuguese grammar does not use this term. In PT-PT, the phenomenon is simply called contração (contraction) or aglutinação (agglutination), and it is treated alongside all the other preposition contractions (de + o = do, em + o = no, and so on). There is no separate chapter for à as a special case. This is a real cultural-linguistic difference; when you read European Portuguese grammar references, expect to find à discussed under "contrações" rather than under "crase."
The substantive rules are similar across both varieties, but the terminology differs. If you are learning PT-PT, don't ask your teacher about crase — ask about contração do a.
a + distal demonstratives: àquele, àquela, àquilo
The preposition a contracts obligatorily with the distal demonstratives — the aquele family, including the neuter aquilo. Because these demonstratives already begin with the letter a-, the merger produces the same grave-accent mark.
| aquele (m.sg.) | aquela (f.sg.) | aqueles (m.pl.) | aquelas (f.pl.) | aquilo (neuter) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | àquele | àquela | àqueles | àquelas | àquilo |
Fui àquele restaurante que me recomendaste.
I went to that restaurant you recommended.
Àquela hora já toda a gente estava a dormir.
By that hour everyone was already asleep.
Disse isso àqueles dois rapazes ali.
I said that to those two boys over there.
Não dês atenção àquilo que ele disse.
Don't pay attention to what he said.
The grave accent is retained in all five forms. Writing aquele without the accent where àquele is required is a recognizable error — just as clearly as writing a where à is required.
Why only the aquele family?
Portuguese has three demonstrative series: este (close to speaker), esse (close to listener), aquele (far from both). Only the aquele family contracts with the preposition a. The este and esse series do not.
Dei o livro a este rapaz.
I gave the book to this boy. (no contraction)
Cheguei a esse sítio há pouco tempo.
I got to that spot a short while ago. (no contraction)
Cheguei àquele sítio há pouco tempo.
I got to that spot (far away) a short while ago. (obligatory contraction)
The reason is purely phonetic. Aquele starts with an a- that would collide with the preposition a; the merger prevents two identical vowels from sitting side by side. Este and esse start with e-, so no collision arises, and the preposition and the demonstrative remain separate words. The neuter pronouns follow the same pattern: a isto, a isso (separate), but àquilo (contracted with grave accent).
Refere-se a isto, não a isso.
He's referring to this, not to that. (no contraction)
Refere-se àquilo de que falámos ontem.
He's referring to what we talked about yesterday. (obligatory contraction)
What a does NOT contract with
Unlike de and em, the preposition a leaves many words untouched. The most important non-contracting categories are:
Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)
A does not contract with the indefinite articles. You write a um, a uma, a uns, a umas as two words.
Dei o livro a um amigo.
I gave the book to a friend.
Escrevi uma carta a uma pessoa muito importante para mim.
I wrote a letter to a very important person to me.
Personal pronouns
A does not contract with ele, ela, eles, elas, mim, ti, nós, vós, or você. All remain separate.
Dei o livro a ele, não a ela.
I gave the book to him, not to her.
Escreveu a nós para explicar a situação.
He wrote to us to explain the situation.
Note, however, that when an indirect-object pronoun is already built into the verb (via the unstressed pronouns lhe, lhes), no preposition is needed at all: dei-lhe o livro (I gave him/her the book) has no a.
Proximate and medial demonstratives
As discussed above, este, esse, isto, isso do not contract with a. Only the distal aquele family does.
Indefinites like outro, algum
A does not standardly contract with outro or algum in modern European Portuguese. You write a outro and a algum, not aoutro or algum.
Vou oferecer este lugar a outro candidato.
I'll offer this position to another candidate.
Refiro-me a algum episódio que não te lembras?
Am I referring to some episode you don't remember?
Reading the accent correctly
Portuguese is careful about its accents, and à deserves its own paragraph. Three separate orthographic phenomena can affect the letter a:
- à (grave accent) — marks the contraction of preposition a
- article a (or demonstrative aquele series). Purely grammatical.
- á (acute accent) — marks a stressed open a vowel (e.g., água, está, já). Phonetic.
- â (circumflex) — marks a stressed closed a vowel (e.g., câmara, ânimo). Phonetic.
These are three different marks, with three different meanings, and they are never interchangeable. A word with an acute á is simply a different word from one with a grave à. Portuguese students spend months absorbing this; be patient with yourself.
Já está na hora de ir à escola.
It's already time to go to school. (já, está = acute; à = grave)
Às vezes, à sexta-feira, vou ao cinema.
Sometimes, on Fridays, I go to the cinema. (às, à = grave)
Some everyday patterns worth memorizing
A handful of high-frequency expressions rely on the ao/à contractions and appear in conversation many times a day. Memorizing them as units is faster than parsing them every time.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ao meio-dia | at noon |
| à meia-noite | at midnight |
| à tarde / à noite | in the afternoon / at night |
| ao domingo / à quinta-feira | on Sundays / on Thursdays (habitual) |
| à espera de | waiting for |
| à procura de | looking for |
| às escuras | in the dark |
| à vontade | at ease, make yourself comfortable |
Estou à espera do autocarro há meia hora.
I've been waiting for the bus for half an hour.
À quinta-feira vou sempre ao mercado da praça.
On Thursdays I always go to the market in the square.
Fica à vontade, vou já buscar um café.
Make yourself comfortable, I'll go get a coffee right now.
Common mistakes
❌ Dei um presente a a Maria.
Incorrect — a + a must contract to à.
✅ Dei um presente à Maria.
I gave Maria a present.
❌ Encontramo-nos as cinco horas.
Incorrect — the grave accent distinguishes *at five o'clock* from *the five hours*.
✅ Encontramo-nos às cinco horas.
We're meeting at five o'clock.
❌ Fui aquele restaurante no Chiado.
Incorrect — a + aquele must contract to àquele.
✅ Fui àquele restaurante no Chiado.
I went to that restaurant in Chiado.
❌ Ao Pedro, eu já disse tudo.
This is actually correct — a + o = ao before a masculine name. Below is the wrong equivalent.
❌ A Pedro, eu já disse tudo.
Incorrect — the article is required in PT with personal names, so a + o must contract to ao.
✅ Ao Pedro, eu já disse tudo.
I've already told Pedro everything.
❌ Refiro-me aquilo que dissemos.
Incorrect — a + aquilo must contract to àquilo (with grave accent).
✅ Refiro-me àquilo que dissemos.
I'm referring to what we said.
Key takeaways
- A contracts obligatorily with the definite articles (ao, à, aos, às) and with the distal demonstratives (àquele, àquela, àqueles, àquelas, àquilo).
- The grave accent on à and às is obligatory — it distinguishes preposition-plus-article from a bare article.
- European Portuguese grammar uses the term contração or aglutinação for this phenomenon. The Brazilian term crase is not used in PT-PT pedagogy.
- A does not contract with indefinite articles (a um), personal pronouns (a ele, a mim), proximate demonstratives (a este, a isso), or indefinites (a outro, a algum).
- The acute á and circumflex â are phonetic marks, completely separate from the grammatical grave à.
For the sister systems with de and em, see contractions with de and contractions with em. For the preposition a itself and its full range of uses, see the preposition a.
Related Topics
- Portuguese Prepositions OverviewA1 — Introduction to Portuguese prepositions and their uses, including the obligatory contractions that set European Portuguese apart.
- The Preposition aA1 — Uses of the preposition a — direction, indirect objects, time, manner, and the crucial PT-PT até ao construction.
- Contractions with deA1 — How the preposition de contracts with articles, demonstratives, pronouns, and other words — a complete reference.
- Contractions with emA1 — How the preposition em contracts with articles, demonstratives, pronouns, and indefinites — a complete reference.