A loja fica além do banco.

In Portuguese, definite articles are used more often than in English. When talking about a specific place, a loja sounds natural.

Also, loja is a feminine noun, so it takes a:

• a loja
• uma loja

If you dropped the article and just said Loja fica..., it would sound incomplete or unnatural in normal Portuguese.

Here, fica comes from ficar, and it means something like is located or is situated.

That is a very common use of ficar with places:

• O banco fica na esquina.
• Minha casa fica perto daqui.

So in this sentence, fica is not really stays in the English sense. It is the normal verb used to say where something is located.

Sometimes yes, but fica is usually more natural for a fixed location like a store, bank, school, or city.

Compare:

• A loja fica além do banco. → sounds like giving its location
• A loja está além do banco. → possible, but less natural in many situations

A simple way to think about it:

• ficar = to be located
• estar = to be

For addresses and permanent locations, Brazilian Portuguese often prefers ficar.

Here, além do means beyond, past, or farther than a reference point.

So it places the store on the other side of the bank or farther along than the bank.

It does not mean behind. For behind, Portuguese would usually use atrás de.

Also, além de can have another meaning in other contexts, such as besides or in addition to, but that is not the meaning here.

Because Portuguese normally contracts de + o into do.

So:

• de + o = do
• de + a = da
• de + os = dos
• de + as = das

The expression is além de + o banco, which becomes:

• além do banco

This kind of contraction is very common and usually required in normal Portuguese.

Nouns in Portuguese have grammatical gender, and the article has to match the noun.

So:

• loja is feminine → a loja
• banco is masculine → o banco

That is why you get:

• A loja
• do banco = de + o banco

Grammatical gender does not always match any logical real-world gender. It is just part of how the noun behaves in the language, so it has to be learned along with the word.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

• banco = bank
• banco = bench
• sometimes also seat/stool, depending on the situation

In this sentence, many learners would first think of a bank because that is a very common meaning, but without more context, Portuguese alone does not force only one interpretation.

So context is what tells you which banco is meant.

Yes. Portuguese word order is somewhat flexible.

The most neutral version is:

• A loja fica além do banco.

But you could also say:

• Além do banco fica a loja.

That version is understandable, but it sounds more marked or literary, or it puts more focus on além do banco.

For everyday speech, the original order is the safest and most natural.

They can be similar in directions, but they are not exactly identical.

• além do banco emphasizes beyond / farther than the bank
• depois do banco means after the bank

In many real situations, both could help someone find a place. But além feels more spatial, while depois de can be more general and can also refer to sequence in time or order.

So in location descriptions, além do banco is a good choice when you want the idea of past that point.

A rough Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation guide:

• a → ah
• loja → roughly LOH-zhah
• fica → roughly FEE-kah
• além → roughly ah-LENG with a nasal ending
• banco → roughly BAHN-koo with a nasal ban

A few useful notes:

• j in loja sounds like the s in measure
• the accent in além shows the stressed syllable: -lém
• the an sound in banco is nasal in Portuguese

A natural rhythm would be: a LO-ja FI-ca a-LÉM do BAN-co