A delegacia fica perto de casa.

In Brazilian Portuguese, ficar is very commonly used to say where something is located.

So A delegacia fica perto de casa means that the police station is located near home.

• ficar = to be located / to be situated
• estar can sometimes be used for location too, but ficar often sounds more natural when talking about where a place is
• ser is not used for physical location in this kind of sentence

Examples:

• O banco fica na esquina. = The bank is on the corner.
• A escola fica longe. = The school is far away.

Delegacia is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular definite article a.

• a = the
• delegacia = police station / police precinct

This is why you say:

• a delegacia not
• o delegacia

A few related examples:

• a escola
• a farmácia
• a padaria

In Brazil, delegacia usually refers to a police station or police precinct, especially an office where police reports are filed and investigations are handled.

It is a very common everyday word in Brazilian Portuguese.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• police station
• police precinct
• police department office

Perto de is a fixed expression meaning near or close to.

You should learn it as a chunk:

• perto de = near / close to

Examples:

• perto de casa = near home
• perto da escola = near the school
• perto do mercado = near the market

The de is part of the expression, so you normally do not say just perto casa.

Here, casa means home, not the house.

In Portuguese, when casa means home in a general/personal sense, it often appears without an article:

• em casa = at home
• de casa = from home / of home / near home, depending on context

So:

• perto de casa = near home

But if you mean a specific house, you would usually use an article:

• perto da casa = near the house

So the difference is:

• perto de casa = near home
• perto da casa = near the house

Yes, absolutely.

• perto de casa = near home
• perto da minha casa = near my house / near my home

Both are natural, but they feel slightly different:

• perto de casa sounds more general and idiomatic
• perto da minha casa is more explicit

In everyday speech, Brazilians often prefer perto de casa when the meaning is obvious.

In standard Portuguese, that would usually sound incomplete or unnatural.

Portuguese uses articles more often than English, especially before common nouns used as subjects.

So the normal sentence is:

• A delegacia fica perto de casa.

Without the article, it might sound like a headline, note, or very telegraphic speech, but not like normal full-sentence conversation.

The basic word order here is very normal:

• A delegacia = subject
• fica = verb
• perto de casa = location phrase

You can change the order in some situations, but the original is the most neutral.

Possible variation:

• Perto de casa fica a delegacia.

This version is more marked and may sound like you are emphasizing the location.

For learners, the safest pattern is:

• [place] + fica + [location]

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

ah deh-leh-gah-SEE-ah FEE-kah PEHR-too jeh KAH-zah

A few pronunciation notes:

• delegacia has stress on ci: de-le-ga-CI-a
• fica sounds like FEE-kah
• in Brazil, de before some sounds may sound like jee/djee in casual speech, so de casa can sound a bit like ji casa
• casa is pronounced with a z sound in the middle: KAH-zah

Yes, very commonly.

Brazilian Portuguese often uses ficar to talk about where places, buildings, stores, neighborhoods, and objects are located.

Examples:

• O hospital fica no centro.
• A farmácia fica ao lado do banco.
• Onde fica o metrô?

That last one is especially useful:

• Onde fica ... ? = Where is ... ? / Where is ... located?

So this sentence follows a very common and useful pattern.