A direção está correta.

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

A useful pattern is that many nouns ending in -ção are feminine:

• a direção
• a informação
• a estação
• a situação

So a direção = the direction.

Because adjectives in Portuguese usually agree with the noun they describe.

Here, correta describes direção, and since direção is feminine singular, the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• masculine singular: correto
• feminine singular: correta
• masculine plural: corretos
• feminine plural: corretas

So:

• O caminho está correto.
• A direção está correta.

Portuguese often uses estar for a current state, condition, or situation, and ser for something more essential, defining, or permanent.

In A direção está correta, the idea is usually that the direction is correct right now or in this situation.

That is why está sounds natural here.

Compare:

• A direção está correta. = The direction is correct. / The direction is right.
• A direção é correta. = The direction is correct in a more general or abstract sense, which is less natural in many everyday situations.

For route-checking, instructions, or checking whether something is right, estar is very common.

Direção can have several meanings in Portuguese, depending on context. Common ones include:

• direction
• management / administration
• steering
• film direction or stage direction

In this sentence, if the meaning shown to the learner is the direction is correct, then direção is being used in that sense.

But in other contexts, A direção está correta could also mean something like:

• The steering is correct
• The management is correct

So context matters a lot with this word.

Yes. Certa is often more common in everyday speech.

Both are correct, but there can be a slight difference in tone:

• correta = more formal, precise, or explicit
• certa = very common in conversation, often a little more natural in casual speech

So both work:

• A direção está correta.
• A direção está certa.

In many real-life situations, Brazilians might prefer certa.

Usually, yes. In normal Portuguese, you would normally say A direção está correta rather than just Direção está correta.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English does. So where English might say Direction is correct in some contexts, Portuguese usually prefers:

• A direção está correta.

Leaving out the article may sound unnatural unless you are using a very special style, such as notes, labels, headlines, or very compressed technical language.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

ah djee-reh-SOWN es-TAH koh-HEH-tah

A few helpful notes:

• direção has stress on the last syllable: -ção
• ção has a nasal sound, something like sown but nasal
• está is stressed on the last syllable: tá
• in many Brazilian accents, the r in correta sounds like an English h at the beginning of a syllable: coh-HEH-ta

You will also notice:

• ç makes an s sound
• ã is nasal
• the a in está has an acute accent to show stress

The structure is:

article + noun + verb + adjective

So:

• A = the
• direção = direction
• está = is
• correta = correct

This is a very common Portuguese sentence pattern:

• A resposta está certa.
• A porta está aberta.
• A informação está correta.

Yes, but the normal and most natural order is:

A direção está correta.

You might sometimes see unusual word order for emphasis, style, or in formal writing, but for learners, the standard order is the one to use.

For example, Está correta a direção is grammatically possible in some contexts, but it is not the most neutral everyday wording.

So the safest version is:

A direção está correta.

There are two important spelling details here:

1. direção

   • has ç, which gives the c an s sound before a
   • has ã, which is nasal

2. está

   • has an acute accent on á
   • that accent shows the stressed syllable

So these marks are not optional. You must write:

• direção, not direcao
• está, not esta

Also note that esta without the accent is a different word: it usually means this.

So:

• está = is
• esta = this

That accent matters a lot.