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Questions & Answers about Essa cidade é bonita.
What's the difference between essa and esta in Portuguese?
Essa generally refers to something that’s near the listener (or recently mentioned in context), while esta typically refers to something close to the speaker. In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, many speakers use essa and esta somewhat interchangeably. However, if you want to be precise, think of esta as “this here” and essa as “that near you.”
Why does the sentence use é instead of está?
In Portuguese, é (from ser) is used for more permanent or intrinsic characteristics, such as describing what something is like by nature. Está (from estar) would indicate a temporary state or condition. Since the sentence expresses a permanent characteristic (“the city is pretty”), é is more appropriate.
Why do we use the feminine form bonita instead of bonito?
In Portuguese, adjectives must agree with the gender (and number) of the noun they describe. Cidade is a feminine noun, so the adjective also takes the feminine form. That’s why it’s bonita instead of bonito.
How do you pronounce essa?
In Brazilian Portuguese, essa is pronounced roughly like EH-sah. The e is similar to the “e” in “get,” and the ss is an unvoiced “s” sound.
Is cidade always a feminine noun?
Yes, cidade is always feminine in Portuguese. There’s no masculine form for it. It’s common in Portuguese for nouns ending in -ade to be feminine (e.g., vontade, liberdade, verdade).
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