Breakdown of O pátio está cheio de flores.
de
of
estar
to be
a flor
the flower
cheio
full
o pátio
the courtyard
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Questions & Answers about O pátio está cheio de flores.
Why is it O pátio instead of A pátio?
Because pátio is a masculine noun in Portuguese, you must use the masculine singular definite article O. The feminine article A would only go with feminine nouns (for example, a sala, a casa).
Can I drop the article and say Pátio está cheio de flores?
No. In European Portuguese it’s standard to use the definite article before most singular and plural nouns. Omitting O here would sound unnatural to native speakers. You need O pátio.
Why is the verb estar used (está) instead of ser?
Portuguese has two verbs for “to be”: ser (for permanent traits or identity) and estar (for temporary states or location). Being “full of flowers” describes a temporary condition, so we use estar: O pátio está cheio de flores.
What does cheio de mean, and why not cheio com?
cheio de translates as “full of.” It’s a fixed collocation in Portuguese and always takes de. If you said cheio com, it would sound incorrect to native speakers.
Why is cheio in masculine singular while flores is plural?
Adjectives (like cheio) agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence, here o pátio (masculine singular). Flores is the object of the preposition de, so it independently reflects how many flowers there are (plural).
What does the accent on pátio indicate, and how do I pronounce it?
The acute accent on á shows that the stress falls on that syllable and marks an open a sound (like “ah”). You pronounce pátio roughly as PAH-tee-oh, with the emphasis on the first syllable.
How is the final s in flores pronounced in European Portuguese?
In Portugal, final -s is often pronounced like English “sh” ([ʃ]), so flores sounds roughly like FLOH-resh. In Brazilian Portuguese you’d more commonly hear it as [s] or [z].
Could I say O pátio tem muitas flores or Há muitas flores no pátio instead? What’s the nuance?
Yes. O pátio tem muitas flores uses ter (“to have”) to express possession; Há muitas flores no pátio uses haver to state existence. O pátio está cheio de flores specifically emphasizes that it’s literally “full” of flowers—a more vivid, picturesque description.
When do you contract de + definite article (dos/das)? Why cheio de flores, not cheio dos flores?
You contract de + the definite article only when the noun is preceded by that article. Here flores is indefinite (“some flowers”), so you use de flores. If it were “the flowers,” you’d say cheio das flores (de + as = das).