Aquela casa é bonita.

Portuguese has three main demonstratives:

• esta = this (close to the speaker)
• essa = that (close to the listener, or just mentioned)
• aquela = that (over there) (far from both speaker and listener, or more distant in time/space)

In Aquela casa é bonita, aquela suggests a house that is physically or mentally “farther away” from the people speaking.
If the house were right next to you, you’d more likely say Esta casa é bonita.
If it were closer to the person you’re talking to, you might say Essa casa é bonita.

In Portuguese, every noun has a grammatical gender (masculine or feminine), and you simply have to learn it with the word. Casa (house) is a feminine noun.

That’s why the other words that “agree” with it are also feminine:

• aquela (feminine form of aquele)
• bonita (feminine form of bonito)

If the noun were masculine, you’d see masculine forms, for example:

• aquele carro é bonito – that car is beautiful / nice

In Portuguese, determiners (like demonstratives) and adjectives must agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they refer to.

• Noun: casa – feminine, singular
• Demonstrative: aquela – feminine, singular (matching casa)
• Adjective: bonita – feminine, singular (matching casa)

Change the number, and everything changes:

• Aquelas casas são bonitas. – Those houses are beautiful / nice.
  
  • aquelas (feminine plural)
  • casas (feminine plural)
  • bonitas (feminine plural)

Portuguese uses two verbs for to be: ser and estar.

• ser (é) is generally for permanent or inherent characteristics.
• estar (está) is generally for temporary states or conditions.

Calling a house bonita is describing an inherent quality (how it looks, its style), so the default is:

• Aquela casa é bonita.

You might use está with adjectives that are more clearly temporary, for example:

• Aquela casa está suja. – That house is dirty (right now).

Bonita can translate as:

• pretty
• nice-looking
• sometimes beautiful, depending on context and tone

It’s usually less strong than words like:

• linda – very beautiful, gorgeous
• belíssima – extremely beautiful

So Aquela casa é bonita is more like That house is pretty / quite nice than That house is stunning.

You can, but it sounds unusual in normal, neutral speech.

• The most natural, neutral order is: Aquela casa bonita or Aquela casa é bonita (noun before adjective).
• Aquela bonita casa puts the adjective before the noun and can sound more literary, emphatic, or poetic.

So for everyday use, stick to:

• Aquela casa é bonita.
• Aquela casa bonita é do meu tio. – That pretty house belongs to my uncle.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Aquela casa é bonita. – Points to a specific house that is “that one (over there)”. It’s deictic, like using your finger to point.
• A casa é bonita. – Means The house is beautiful / pretty, but it’s less specific; it might refer to:
  • a house already clearly identified in the conversation, or
  • “the house” in a generic or known context.

With aquela, you are clearly singling out one house among others.

You need to make the demonstrative, the noun, the verb, and the adjective all plural:

• Singular: Aquela casa é bonita. – That house is pretty.
• Plural: Aquelas casas são bonitas. – Those houses are pretty.

Changes:

• aquela → aquelas
• casa → casas
• é → são
• bonita → bonitas

• Aquela casa é bonita.

  • Describes an inherent quality of the house (its design, appearance in general).
  • Neutral, default description.

• Aquela casa está bonita.

  • Suggests a temporary or recently changed state: it looks nice now (maybe after renovation, cleaning, painting, decorating).
  • Implies it might not always have looked like this.

Native speakers of European Portuguese use this contrast quite clearly.

In European Portuguese, a careful pronunciation would be approximately:

• Aquela casa é bonita → [ɐˈkɛlɐ ˈkazɐ ɛ buˈnitɐ]

Some notes:

• Aquela: stress on -que-: a-QUE-la [ɐˈkɛlɐ]
• Casa: CA-sa [ˈkazɐ], final -a is more like a reduced [ɐ].
• Bonita: bo-NI-ta [buˈnitɐ], the final -a also reduced [ɐ].
• In fast speech, é may sound very short, almost like a quick [ɛ] between words.

No, that’s perfectly correct and very natural.

• Aquela casa é bonita. – That house is pretty.
• Aquela casa é muito bonita. – That house is very pretty.

You can also use other intensifiers:

• Aquela casa é tão bonita. – That house is so pretty.
• Aquela casa é mesmo bonita. (PT-PT) – That house really is pretty.

Demonstratives like esta, essa, aquela already act a bit like “this/that + the” combined. You normally don’t use a definite or indefinite article before them:

• Aquela casa – that house
• Essa casa – that house
• Esta casa – this house

You would not say a aquela casa or uma aquela casa; that would be incorrect.

• casa bonita (or aquela casa bonita, uma casa bonita) is the standard, neutral way: noun first, adjective after.
• bonita casa is unusual in everyday speech and tends to sound:
  • more poetic, literary, or
  • emphatic, as if you’re highlighting how pretty it is.

So for normal conversation, use casa bonita, as in:

• Aquela casa é bonita.
• É uma casa bonita. – It’s a pretty house.