O hospital fica perto.

In Portuguese, ser (é) is generally not used for the location of things like buildings. So O hospital é perto sounds wrong.

For location, Portuguese usually uses estar or ficar:

• O hospital está perto.
• O hospital fica perto.

Both can mean The hospital is near, but ficar is very common when talking about where places are located. It often sounds natural for giving directions or describing a place’s location.

Here, fica means something like is located.

The verb ficar has several meanings in Portuguese, including:

• to stay
• to become
• to be located

In O hospital fica perto, it has the location meaning:

• The hospital is located nearby / near.

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• o hospital = the hospital

Portuguese uses articles more often than English does, so it is very normal to say o hospital when referring to a specific hospital.

Yes. Hospital is a masculine noun, which is why it takes o:

• o hospital

If it were plural, it would be:

• os hospitais = the hospitals

There is no special logical reason English speakers need to memorize here; grammatical gender is just part of the noun in Portuguese.

Because perto can be used on its own to mean nearby or close when the reference point is understood or not stated.

So:

• O hospital fica perto. = The hospital is near / nearby.

But if you say what it is near, then you normally use perto de:

• O hospital fica perto da escola. = The hospital is near the school.
• O hospital fica perto de casa. = The hospital is near home.

So perto by itself is fine, and perto de is used when you name the place or thing.

It can work as either, depending on context.

In this sentence, a very natural English translation is:

• The hospital is nearby.

But it can also be translated as:

• The hospital is near.

English usually prefers nearby if no comparison point is mentioned. Portuguese is comfortable with just perto.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide is:

• oo os-pee-TAW FEE-kah PEHR-too

A few important points:

• h in hospital is silent.
• The stress in hospital falls on the last syllable: -tal.
• fica is stressed on fi.
• perto is stressed on per.

In many Brazilian accents, the article o sounds more like oo than like the English oh.

Yes. O hospital está perto is also correct.

The difference is mostly about usage and feel:

• ficar is very common for describing where a place is located
• estar also works for saying something is near

So both are natural, but ficar is especially common when talking about the location of buildings, stores, banks, hospitals, and similar places.

Normally, no. In standard Portuguese, you would usually say:

• O hospital fica perto.

Leaving out the article sounds unnatural here unless you are speaking in a very telegraphic style, like notes, headlines, or signs.

So for normal speech, keep the article.

It follows a very common Portuguese pattern:

• O hospital = subject
• fica = verb
• perto = location expression

So the structure is:

• [subject] + [verb] + [place/location description]

You can use the same pattern with many other places:

• O banco fica perto. = The bank is nearby.
• A escola fica longe. = The school is far away.
• A farmácia fica aqui. = The pharmacy is here.

Yes, you could say:

• O hospital fica próximo.
• O hospital fica próximo de...

But perto is usually more common and more everyday in conversation.

So for a beginner, perto is the more useful word to learn first.