Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): A louça limpa está em cima da mesa, e a salada está na geladeira. - The clean dishes are on the table, and the salad is in the fridge.

a louça often refers to all the dishes as a group, not just a single item.
It doesn’t necessarily mean dirty; it can be clean or dirty, depending on the context or an adjective like limpa (clean) or suja (dirty).
If you want to specify plates, you’d say pratos; copos for glasses; xícaras for cups, etc.

So in this sentence, a louça limpa is best understood as the clean dishes (all of them as a set).

Why is it a louça limpa and not as louças limpas if in English we say the clean dishes (plural)?

In Portuguese, many things that are plural in English are treated as mass nouns in the singular.

a louça = the dishes (as a collective mass)
as louças would sound like you’re talking about types/kinds of crockery or several separate sets of dishes, which is less common in everyday speech here.

So:

a louça limpa = the clean dishes (all the dishes considered as one set)
as louças limpas = could be understood as multiple sets of dishes that are clean (possible, but unusual in this context).

Using a louça is the most natural way to talk about the dishes in a typical home situation.

Why is the adjective limpa placed after louça? Could I say a limpa louça?

The normal order in Portuguese is noun + adjective, not adjective + noun as in English.

a louça limpa (standard, natural)
a limpa louça (grammatically possible, but sounds poetic, old-fashioned, or marked, and in this case quite strange)

General rule:

In neutral, everyday speech, descriptive adjectives (clean, dirty, big, red, etc.) usually come after the noun:
- casa grande = big house
- carro vermelho = red car
- salada fresca = fresh salad

Sometimes adjectives can come before the noun, but that usually adds a nuance (emotional, poetic, or idiomatic), which is not needed here. For a learner: default to noun + adjective.

Why is it limpa and not limpo? How does the gender agreement work here?

Adjectives in Portuguese have to agree in gender and number with the noun.

a louça is feminine singular:
- feminine article: a
- noun ending in -a (usually feminine)
Therefore the adjective must also be feminine singular:
- limpa (feminine singular)
- limpo (masculine singular)

So:

a louça limpa (feminine singular) – correct
o prato limpo (masculine singular) – correct
a louça limpo – incorrect (gender mismatch)

What is the difference between em cima da mesa and na mesa? Could I just say A louça limpa está na mesa?

Yes, you can say A louça limpa está na mesa, and it’s natural.

Nuances:

na mesa ( = em + a mesa) usually means on the table in general.
em cima da mesa literally means on top of the table, and can emphasize that the dishes are physically on the upper surface of the table (not under it, not inside a drawer, etc.).

In many everyday situations, na mesa and em cima da mesa are interchangeable and both are fine. Em cima da mesa may just sound a bit more explicit.

What does da mean in em cima da mesa, and what is the difference between da and na?

Da and na are both contractions of a preposition + article:

da = de + a
- em cima da mesa = em cima de a mesa → de (of/from) + a (the, feminine singular)
na = em + a
- na mesa = em a mesa → em (in/on/at) + a (the)

So in this sentence:

em cima da mesa = literally: on top of the table
na mesa = in/on/at the table (usually understood as on the table)

Both da and na are just contractions that make speech and writing more natural and fluid.

Why do we say a salada and not just salada? English often drops the article there.

Portuguese uses definite articles (o, a, os, as) much more often than English, especially with concrete nouns.

English: Salad is in the fridge. (no article before salad)
Portuguese: A salada está na geladeira.

Using a salada:

Refers to a specific salad that both speakers know about (maybe the one you just prepared).
Without the article (salada está na geladeira), the sentence sounds incomplete or wrong in standard Portuguese.

As a rough rule for learners:

When talking about a specific thing that both people know, use the definite article in Portuguese, even if English doesn’t:
- o carro = the car
- a comida = the food
- a salada = the salad

What is the difference between geladeira and frigorífico or refrigerador? Which one is Brazilian?

In Brazil, the common everyday word for fridge is geladeira.

geladeira – standard in Brazilian Portuguese.
frigorífico – can mean a cold storage facility, meat-processing plant, or industrial refrigerator; in European Portuguese it can also be used for fridge at home.
refrigerador – more formal/technical; you might see it in manuals or product descriptions, but people usually say geladeira at home.

So in Brazilian Portuguese, a salada está na geladeira is the most natural way to say the salad is in the fridge.

Why is it na geladeira and not em a geladeira?

Na is simply the contracted form of em + a:

em (in/on/at) + a (the, feminine sing.) → na

So:

na geladeira = in the fridge
Full form em a geladeira is grammatically the same idea, but in real Portuguese you must contract it to na; using em a sounds wrong/unnatural.

Same with other nouns:

no carro = em + o carro (in the car)
na escola = em + a escola (at school)

Why is the verb está used twice, and why not estão (plural) since we have two things: the dishes and the salad?

We actually have two separate clauses, each with its own subject and its own verb:

A louça limpa está em cima da mesa
- Subject: a louça limpa
- Verb: está (3rd person singular)
a salada está na geladeira
- Subject: a salada
- Verb: está (3rd person singular)

They are joined by e (and), but each clause is independent. So both subjects are singular, and each takes está.

If you tried to merge both subjects into one and use only one verb, then you could say:

A louça limpa e a salada estão na cozinha.
(The clean dishes and the salad are in the kitchen.)

Here, the subject is plural (a louça limpa e a salada together), so the verb is estão.

Why is there a comma before e in ..., e a salada está na geladeira? I thought you usually don’t put a comma before and / e.

In Portuguese, you generally don’t use a comma before e when it just links two similar elements (like two nouns or two verbs with the same subject).

However, a comma is allowed and common when:

e links two independent clauses that each have their own subject.

In this sentence:

First clause: A louça limpa está em cima da mesa
Second clause: a salada está na geladeira

The subjects are different (a louça limpa vs. a salada), and each side could stand as its own sentence. So using a comma before e is correct and actually recommended in more formal writing:

A louça limpa está em cima da mesa, e a salada está na geladeira.

You could see it without the comma in some informal texts, but with the comma it follows the standard rule more clearly.

What is the difference between mesa and tabela? Both sometimes translate as table in English.

English table can mean two different things:

A piece of furniture (dining table, desk, etc.)
A chart with rows and columns (like in a spreadsheet)

Portuguese separates these meanings:

mesa = table as furniture
- mesa de jantar = dining table
- mesa do escritório = office desk
tabela = table as a chart or data table
- tabela de preços = price table
- tabela do Excel = Excel table

In the sentence, mesa is clearly a piece of furniture, so em cima da mesa is the correct expression.