A mata fica depois da cachoeira?

after

Breakdown of A mata fica depois da cachoeira?

• ficar: to be located
• a cachoeira: the waterfall
• a mata: the woodland; forest

Questions & Answers about A mata fica depois da cachoeira?

What does fica mean here? I thought it meant stays or becomes.

In this sentence, fica means is located or is in the sense of location.

The verb ficar has several common meanings in Portuguese, including:

• to stay
• to become
• to be located

Here it is the location meaning:

• A mata fica depois da cachoeira? = Is the forest after the waterfall? / Is the woods beyond the waterfall?

This use of ficar is very common in Brazilian Portuguese when asking where something is.

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Why is it da cachoeira and not de a cachoeira?

Because de + a contracts to da in Portuguese.

So:

• de + a cachoeira → da cachoeira

This kind of contraction is very common:

• de + o → do
• de + a → da
• de + os → dos
• de + as → das

Since depois normally comes with de, you get:

• depois de a cachoeira → depois da cachoeira

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Why is there an article before both nouns: a mata and a cachoeira?