A área fica perto de casa.

Because área is a feminine noun in Portuguese, so it takes the feminine article a.

• a área = the area
• uma área = an area

A lot of Portuguese nouns ending in -a are feminine, and área follows that pattern.

In Brazilian Portuguese, área is pronounced roughly like AH-reh-ah, with the stress on the first syllable:

• á-re-a

The accent mark in á shows where the stress goes.
It is not pronounced like English area as one smooth word; in Portuguese it is clearly divided into syllables.

In Portuguese, ficar is often used to talk about location, especially when describing where something is situated.

So:

• A área fica perto de casa. = The area is located near home.

Using está is not impossible in some contexts, but fica sounds very natural when talking about where a place is.

Compare:

• Onde fica o banco? = Where is the bank?
• O banco fica na esquina. = The bank is on the corner.

So here, fica means something like is located.

Fica is the third-person singular form of the verb ficar in the present tense.

Conjugation:

• eu fico = I stay / I am located
• você/ele/ela fica = you/he/she stays, is located

Since a área is singular, the verb must also be singular:

• A área fica...

Here, ficar means to be located or to be situated.

This verb has several meanings in Portuguese, depending on context, such as:

• to stay
• to become
• to be located

In this sentence, it is clearly the location meaning:

• A área fica perto de casa. = The area is located near home.

Because perto normally takes the preposition de when you say what something is near.

So the pattern is:

• perto de + place/person/thing

Examples:

• perto de casa = near home
• perto da escola = near the school
• perto de mim = near me

So perto de works as a fixed expression meaning near.

In Portuguese, casa often appears without an article when it means home in a general sense.

So:

• perto de casa = near home
• em casa = at home
• voltar para casa = to go back home

But if you mean a specific house/building, then you use the article:

• perto da casa = near the house
• na casa da Maria = in Maria’s house

So:

• de casa = of/from home
• da casa = of/from the house

Here it usually means home, not just a physical house.

For English speakers, this is an important distinction:

• casa can mean house
• but without an article, it often means home

So perto de casa is usually understood as near home or near my/our home, depending on context.

Área can mean area, zone, region, or space, depending on context.

In this sentence, it most likely means:

• an area
• a neighborhood area
• a region or zone

The exact meaning depends on the larger conversation. For example, it could refer to:

• a residential area
• a commercial area
• a search area
• a section of a city

This is a very normal Portuguese word order:

• A área = subject
• fica = verb
• perto de casa = location expression

So it follows the common pattern:

• Subject + Verb + Complement

Just like in English:

• The area is near home

Portuguese word order is often similar to English in simple sentences like this one.

Yes, people would understand it, but fica is usually more natural when talking about where a place is located.

• fica = is located
• está = is

So A área fica perto de casa sounds more idiomatic for a permanent or general location.

No. Perto does not change to match the noun.

You say:

• A área fica perto...
• O banco fica perto...
• As lojas ficam perto...

What changes is the verb if the subject changes:

• A área fica
• As áreas ficam

But perto stays the same.

If the subject becomes plural, the verb changes too:

• A área fica perto de casa.
• As áreas ficam perto de casa.

Changes:

• a → as
• fica → ficam

The rest stays the same.

Yes, very common. It is one of the most useful everyday location expressions in Portuguese.

Other common examples:

• moro perto de casa = I live near home
• o trabalho fica perto de casa = work is near home
• tem um mercado perto de casa = there is a market near home

It is a very natural phrase in Brazilian Portuguese.

Yes. Perto de and próximo de both mean near.

So you could say:

• A área fica perto de casa.
• A área fica próxima de casa.

Both are correct.
Perto de often sounds a bit more common and conversational in everyday speech.

It usually suggests a general or stable location.

Because the sentence uses fica, it sounds like a description of where the area is situated, not a temporary condition.

So it feels similar to saying:

• The area is located near home

rather than something temporary like:

• The area is currently near home

That temporary idea would not normally make sense here anyway.