O cume ainda está longe?

Is the summit still far away?

Breakdown of O cume ainda está longe?

• estar: to be
• longe: far
• ainda: still
• o cume: the summit

Questions & Answers about O cume ainda está longe?

Why does the sentence start with o?

O is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

It is used because cume is a masculine singular noun: o cume = the summit / the peak.

Unlike English, Portuguese usually uses the definite article more regularly before nouns, especially when referring to a specific thing.

What does cume mean exactly, and is it a common word?

Cume means summit, peak, or top, especially of a mountain.

It is a correct and fairly standard word, but in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, people may often say things like:

• o topo = the top
• o pico = the peak
• o alto = the upper part / the top area

So cume is natural, but it can sound a little more specific or slightly more literary than topo in some contexts.

Why is it ainda está longe? What does ainda do here?

Ainda usually means still.

So ainda está longe means is still far away.

In this sentence, ainda adds the idea that the summit has not been reached yet, and the distance remains significant.

Compare:

• O cume está longe? = Is the summit far?
• O cume ainda está longe? = Is the summit still far?

That still idea is what ainda contributes.