Breakdown of Hoje há muita comida na despensa.
Questions & Answers about Hoje há muita comida na despensa.
In European Portuguese, há (from the verb haver) is the standard way to say “there is / there are” in existential sentences:
- Há muita comida na despensa. = There is a lot of food in the pantry.
Details:
- há = there is / there are (impersonal, no real subject)
- tem (from ter) literally means has.
- In Portugal, people sometimes say Tem muita comida na despensa, but it sounds more informal/colloquial and is less standard than há.
- In Brazil, tem is extremely common for there is / are in speech.
- é (from ser) = is (identity/description), not used for “there is/are”:
- ✗ Hoje é muita comida na despensa. (incorrect)
- está (from estar) = is (located/temporary), but you still need a subject:
- A comida está na despensa. = The food is in the pantry.
- You cannot say Está muita comida na despensa with the meaning “there is a lot of food”.
So, for a neutral, correct European Portuguese sentence meaning “Today there is a lot of food in the pantry”, há is the best choice.
The accent and the initial h distinguish há from other small words that sound very similar:
- há (with accent, from haver)
- Means “there is / there are” or “ago” (in other contexts).
- Há muita comida. = There is a lot of food.
- Há dois dias. = Two days ago.
- a (no accent)
- Usually a preposition, often meaning to, at, towards:
- Vou a Lisboa. = I go to Lisbon.
- Usually a preposition, often meaning to, at, towards:
- à (with grave accent)
- Contraction of a + a (preposition + feminine definite article).
- Vou à despensa. = I go to the pantry.
- Contraction of a + a (preposition + feminine definite article).
In speech, há, a, and à can sound very similar, but the accent in writing is important because only há can mean there is / there are or ago.
In Portuguese, quantifiers like muito/muita/muitos/muitas agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they modify.
- comida is feminine singular.
- Therefore, muito must change to muita.
Forms:
- muito – masculine singular (e.g. muito pão = a lot of bread)
- muita – feminine singular (e.g. muita comida = a lot of food)
- muitos – masculine plural (e.g. muitos livros = many books)
- muitas – feminine plural (e.g. muitas maçãs = many apples)
So muita comida is grammatically correct; muito comida would be incorrect.
In this sentence, muita comida is a general, indefinite quantity of an uncountable noun (food), so Portuguese normally uses:
- muita comida = a lot of food / much food
You would not usually say:
- ✗ a muita comida
- ✗ muita a comida
Those forms would sound strange or would need a very specific context (for example, emphasizing a particular, already-mentioned food in a literary style).
Compare:
- Há muita comida na despensa.
= There is a lot of food in the pantry. (natural, general) - A comida na despensa é muita.
= The food in the pantry is a lot. (possible, but more marked/unusual structure)
So the most natural way to express this idea is simply muita comida without an article.
Na is a contraction of the preposition em + the feminine singular article a:
- em + a = na
Breakdown of na despensa:
- em = in / on
- a = the (feminine singular)
- despensa = pantry
- na despensa = in the pantry
You usually need both a preposition of place and a definite article when you talk about a specific location:
- Há comida na despensa. = There is food in the pantry.
- ✗ Há comida em despensa. (sounds wrong/unnatural)
- ✗ Há comida despensa. (missing preposition and article)
Because despensa is feminine singular, em a despensa must contract to na despensa in normal usage.
Yes, Portuguese allows some flexibility in word order, especially with adverbs like hoje and prepositional phrases like na despensa.
All of these are grammatically correct, with only slight changes in emphasis:
Hoje há muita comida na despensa.
Neutral; sets the time first: “Today, there is a lot of food in the pantry.”Há muita comida na despensa hoje.
Very natural; puts extra focus on today as new information.Na despensa há muita comida hoje.
Emphasizes the location first: “As for the pantry, today there is a lot of food there.”Há hoje muita comida na despensa.
Also correct, a bit more formal or stylistic; hoje is inserted after há.
In everyday speech, 1 and 2 are probably the most common and neutral.
Both are grammatically possible, but they don’t mean the same:
Há muita comida na despensa.
= There is a lot of food in the pantry.- comida is treated as a mass noun (like “food” in English).
- Focus is on the quantity of food in general.
Há muitas comidas na despensa.
= There are many (different) dishes / types of food in the pantry.- comidas (plural) often suggests different kinds of prepared dishes or varieties of food.
- Can sound a bit unusual unless you specifically mean “many different dishes/kinds”.
For the everyday idea “there is a lot of food”, the natural choice is muita comida, singular.
Despensa in European Portuguese usually means:
- a pantry / storeroom for food – a small room or large storage area where you keep food, tins, etc.
It is not normally used for small cupboards or cabinets attached to the wall. For those, you would more likely hear:
- armário da cozinha = kitchen cupboard / cabinet
- prateleira = shelf
So the sentence Hoje há muita comida na despensa suggests there is a lot of food stored in the pantry or food storage area, not just a single cupboard.
The sentence is perfectly understandable in Brazil, but everyday Brazilian speech would more often use tem instead of há:
- European Portuguese (standard):
Hoje há muita comida na despensa. - Very natural Brazilian Portuguese (spoken):
Hoje tem muita comida na despensa.
Other points:
- despensa is also used in Brazil with the same meaning (pantry).
- Word order and the rest of the structure are fine in both varieties.
So for Portugal, há is a safe, standard choice. In Brazilian everyday speech, tem is more common, although há is also correct and more formal.