Word
O estado é grande.
Meaning
The state is large.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
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Questions & Answers about O estado é grande.
Why does the sentence start with o?
O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.
So o estado = the state.
Portuguese articles change for gender and number:
- o = the, masculine singular
- a = the, feminine singular
- os = the, masculine plural
- as = the, feminine plural
Because estado is a masculine singular noun, it takes o.
What does estado mean here?
Here, estado most naturally means state in the political/geographic sense, like a state within a country.
But estado can also mean state/condition, depending on context. For example, it can refer to someone’s physical or emotional condition.
In O estado é grande, the most likely reading is the geographic/political one: The state is big/large.
Why is it é and not está?