Meus óculos estão ali na mesa, ao lado do jornal.

My glasses are there on the table, next to the newspaper.

Breakdown of Meus óculos estão ali na mesa, ao lado do jornal.

• a mesa: the table
• estar: to be
• meu: my
• na: on the

Questions & Answers about Meus óculos estão ali na mesa, ao lado do jornal.

Why is óculos plural? Does meus óculos mean one pair of glasses or more than one?

In everyday Portuguese, óculos normally refers to one pair of glasses, even though the noun is grammatically plural.

So:

• meus óculos = my glasses / my pair of glasses

This is similar to English, where glasses is also plural.

Because óculos is treated as plural, the other words around it also go plural:

• meus = my, masculine plural
• estão = are, plural

There is a singular form óculo, but it is not what people normally use for everyday glasses.

Why is it meus and not meu or minhas?

Because meus has to agree with óculos.

Óculos is:

• masculine
• plural

So the possessive must also be masculine plural:

• meu = my, masculine singular
• minha = my, feminine singular
• meus = my, masculine plural
• minhas = my, feminine plural

Since the noun is óculos, the correct form is meus.

Why is it estão instead of ?