A gola do casaco está fria.

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Breakdown of A gola do casaco está fria.

• estar: to be
• frio: cold
• o casaco: the coat

Questions & Answers about A gola do casaco está fria.

Why is a necessary before gola?

In Portuguese, most singular nouns require a definite article where English often omits it. You can’t just say gola do casaco está fria in normal speech—you need a gola do casaco está fria.

What does do mean in do casaco?

Do is the contraction of the preposition de plus the masculine singular article o. Since casaco is masculine, de + o casaco becomes do casaco.

Why is gola feminine and casaco masculine?

Portuguese nouns have grammatical gender. Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine (hence a gola), and nouns ending in -o are usually masculine (hence o casaco). Articles and adjectives must agree in gender (and number) with the noun.

Why use estar instead of ser in está fria?

Estar describes temporary states or conditions. The collar is cold right now, but that coldness isn’t an inherent, permanent characteristic—so you say está fria, not é fria.