Breakdown of A entrada da casa está bloqueada, por isso usamos a porta principal.
Questions & Answers about A entrada da casa está bloqueada, por isso usamos a porta principal.
Por isso literally means “for that (reason)” and is usually translated in this kind of sentence as “so” or “therefore”:
- A entrada da casa está bloqueada, por isso usamos a porta principal.
→ The entrance to the house is blocked, *so we use the main door.*
It links a cause and a consequence:
- Cause: A entrada da casa está bloqueada
- Consequence: usamos a porta principal
In everyday European Portuguese, por isso is a very common, neutral connector for “so”, “therefore”, “for that reason”.
Da is a contraction of the preposition de + the feminine singular definite article a:
- de + a = da
So da casa literally = “of the house”.
- A entrada da casa → the entrance of the house / the house’s entrance
If you said just de casa, it would mean “of house” (without “the”) and would sound incomplete or odd in this specific context. You normally specify which house:
- a entrada da casa = the entrance of the house (specific)
De casa on its own is used in other expressions (e.g. sair de casa = “to leave home”), but not in this “entrance of the house” structure.
- Entrada means “entrance”, not necessarily a physical door. It can be the area/space where you enter: hallway, lobby, entryway.
- Porta is a door (a physical door panel).
So:
- A entrada da casa está bloqueada
→ The entrance area to the house is blocked. Maybe furniture, rubble, or something is blocking the entryway or path, not necessarily the door itself.
Then the second part says:
- usamos a porta principal → we use the main door.
So the idea is: the usual entrance area is blocked, therefore, we’re using a specific door instead (the main front door). In another context, you could say:
- A porta da casa está bloqueada.
→ The door of the house is blocked.
That would focus on the door itself being blocked, not the entry area.
European Portuguese distinguishes ser and estar, like Spanish:
- estar = temporary states, conditions, locations, situations that can change
- ser = permanent characteristics, inherent qualities, definitions, identities
Está bloqueada uses estar because the blockage is understood as a temporary condition:
- A entrada da casa está bloqueada.
→ The entrance (right now / at the moment) is blocked.
If you said é bloqueada, it would sound like a habitual or permanent description, almost like:
- “The house entrance is (regularly) blocked”
- or in a passive, slightly awkward sense: “is (being) blocked” as a general fact.
In everyday speech for a physical state like this, estar is the natural choice.
Bloqueada is the feminine singular form of the past participle bloqueado / bloqueada (from bloquear = “to block”).
Adjectives and past participles in Portuguese must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe:
- a entrada → feminine singular
- so you need bloqueada → feminine singular
If the noun were masculine, you would use bloqueado:
- o caminho está bloqueado → the path is blocked
- a entrada está bloqueada → the entrance is blocked
Plural examples:
- as entradas estão bloqueadas
- os caminhos estão bloqueados
Portuguese is a pro‑drop language: the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.
usamos clearly indicates “we use” (1st person plural).
So nós is not necessary:por isso usamos a porta principal = “so we use the main door.”
You can add nós for emphasis or contrast:
- …por isso nós usamos a porta principal, e eles usam a lateral.
→ “…so we use the main door, and they use the side door.”
But in a neutral sentence like yours, leaving out nós is more natural in European Portuguese.
Both can sometimes refer to what we call the “front door”, but there’s a nuance:
porta principal = main door, the official or primary entrance to a building.
- More neutral/formal.
- Often used for houses, apartment buildings, public buildings, etc.
porta da frente = front door, literally “door at the front”.
- Emphasizes the physical position (the front side).
- More colloquial and visual.
In many houses, a porta principal is a porta da frente, so in casual speech they may overlap:
- Vamos pela porta principal.
- Vamos pela porta da frente.
In your sentence, porta principal fits very well in either a neutral or slightly formal tone.
Yes, you can, and in European Portuguese this is how you usually form the present continuous:
- estamos a usar = “we are using (right now / at the moment)”
So:
- A entrada da casa está bloqueada, por isso estamos a usar a porta principal.
→ The house entrance is blocked, so we are using the main door (at the moment).
The difference:
- usamos → simple present; can mean a habit (“we use it (generally)”) or a more neutral present.
- estamos a usar → emphasizes an ongoing temporary action (“we are currently using it”).
Context decides which is more natural; both are grammatically correct.
Yes, in standard writing it is normal (and recommended) to put a comma before por isso when it introduces the result clause:
- A entrada da casa está bloqueada, por isso usamos a porta principal.
Por isso here is acting like a conjunction (“so / therefore”), linking two independent clauses. In European Portuguese, we usually separate such clauses with a comma. In very informal writing, you might sometimes see it omitted, but the comma is the norm and helps readability.
You can, but the nuance changes slightly:
- por isso = “therefore / for that reason / so”
- More clearly logical and neutral.
- então = “so / then / in that case”
- More conversational, can carry a tone of reaction or conclusion in real time.
Your sentence with então:
- A entrada da casa está bloqueada, então usamos a porta principal.
This is understandable and used in speech, but in careful or written European Portuguese, por isso is often preferred for a clear causal link. Então can sound a bit more informal or “spoken” in this position.
A is the feminine singular definite article (“the”). You use it because you are talking about specific, known things:
- a entrada da casa → the entrance of the house
- a porta principal → the main door (of that house/building everyone knows in context)
If you drop the articles:
- Entrada da casa está bloqueada, por isso usamos porta principal.
This sounds unnatural/wrong in Portuguese. Unlike English (which sometimes drops “the”), Portuguese normally requires definite articles with specific nouns. So you should keep a entrada and a porta principal.