O protetor solar está com você?

Is the sunscreen with you?

Breakdown of O protetor solar está com você?

• você: you
• estar: to be
• com: with
• o protetor solar: the sunscreen

Questions & Answers about O protetor solar está com você?

Why is there an o before protetor solar?

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the. Portuguese uses articles more often than English does, so o protetor solar simply means the sunscreen.

In this sentence, it sounds like the speaker is asking about a specific sunscreen that both people know about.

What does protetor solar mean literally?

Literally, it is something like solar protector. In natural English, the usual translation is sunscreen.

In Brazil, protetor solar is a very common everyday term. You may also hear filtro solar.

Why does the sentence use está instead of é?

It uses está because the idea is about a temporary situation or current possession: whether the sunscreen is currently with you.

Ser (é) is used for identity, permanent characteristics, and definitions, so it would not fit here. This is one of the common uses of estar in Portuguese.

What does está com você mean here?

Here, estar com means to be with someone, in the sense of to be in someone’s possession or to be on someone / with someone physically.

So O protetor solar está com você? is asking whether the sunscreen is currently with you, not whether it belongs to you.