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O mercado está fechado.

O mercado está fechado.
The market is closed.
FromLesson 22inHardcore Portuguese (Portugal)

Breakdown of O mercado está fechado.

estar
to be
o mercado
the market
fechado
closed

Questions & Answers about O mercado está fechado.

Why is there a definite article o before mercado?
In Portuguese, most nouns are used with an article. Mercado is a masculine singular noun, so it takes the masculine definite article o. Unlike English (“Market is closed”), you generally can’t drop the article in everyday speech.
Why is está used instead of é?
Portuguese has two verbs for “to be”: ser (permanent traits) and estar (temporary states). Being closed is a temporary condition, so we use estar (3rd-person singular está). Using é would imply a permanent quality.
What is the function of the accent on está?
The acute accent marks the stressed syllable and distinguishes está (“is”) from esta (“this,” feminine demonstrative). It also ensures you pronounce it with stress on the final -tá.
Is fechado an adjective or a past participle?
It’s the past participle of fechar used as an adjective. In the structure estar + past participle, the participle functions like an adjective describing a state.
Why does the adjective fechado come after the verb?
In Portuguese, predicative adjectives follow the verb. The pattern estar + adjective/participle always places the descriptor after the verb, unlike attributive adjectives which normally follow the noun.
What’s the difference between o mercado está fechado and o mercado fechou?

O mercado está fechado (estar + participle) describes the current state: “the market is closed.”
O mercado fechou uses the simple past of fechar (“closed”) and focuses on the action/event of closing at a specific time.

Can you say Um mercado está fechado with an indefinite article?
Grammatically yes, but it sounds odd if you mean “the market is closed.” Um mercado está fechado implies “one market (out of many) is closed.” To talk about a specific market, you’d use o mercado.
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