Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): O guia mostra o caminho até ao farol. - The guide shows the way to the lighthouse.

o guia = the guide (a specific guide, masculine or assumed masculine by default)
It tells you:
- the noun is masculine
- the speaker is referring to a specific, known guide, not just any guide

If you wanted to say “a guide” in a non‑specific sense, you’d use um guia (indefinite article).

Why is guia masculine even though it ends in -a?

In Portuguese, most nouns ending in -a are feminine, but there are important exceptions.

guia (person who guides) is masculine by default: o guia
For a female guide, you can say a guia (feminine article), but the noun’s form itself doesn’t change.

So gender here is shown by the article (o/a), not by changing the ending of guia. Ending in -a is a strong tendency for feminine nouns, not an absolute rule.

What tense and person is mostra in O guia mostra o caminho…?

mostra is:

Verb: mostrar (to show)
Tense: Present indicative
Person: 3rd person singular (ele/ela mostra)

So O guia mostra = “The guide shows / is showing.”
In Portuguese, the simple present often covers both English “shows” and “is showing” in everyday use.

Could I say O guia está a mostrar o caminho… instead of O guia mostra o caminho…?

Yes, especially in European Portuguese, you can say:

O guia está a mostrar o caminho até ao farol.

This is the “progressive” form (estar a + infinitive) and corresponds closely to “The guide is showing the way to the lighthouse.”

Differences in nuance:

mostra – neutral present; can mean a general habit or something happening now.
está a mostrar – clearly focuses on an action in progress right now.

Both are grammatically correct.

Why do we say o caminho and not just caminho?

In Portuguese, nouns are usually accompanied by an article (especially in European Portuguese), much more often than in English.

mostra o caminho = shows the way
If you drop the article (mostra caminho), it sounds incomplete or unidiomatic here.

Also, mostrar o caminho is a kind of fixed expression meaning “to show the way” (both literally and figuratively), and it normally uses the definite article.

What exactly does caminho mean here? Is it “road” or “way”?

caminho can mean:

path / way / route (general)
sometimes road, but that’s more usually estrada.

In this sentence, o caminho is best understood as “the way / the route” to the lighthouse, not a specific paved road. If you meant a proper road, you’d be more likely to say a estrada.

What does até mean here, and why is it used?

Here até means “up to / as far as / to the point of” in a spatial sense.

até ao farol = as far as the lighthouse / to the lighthouse (as the endpoint)

Nuance:

até emphasizes the limit or endpoint of a movement or path.
So the guide shows the way all the way up to the lighthouse, not just in that general direction.

Why is it até ao farol and not até o farol or até a o farol?

Because of mandatory contraction between the preposition a and the masculine article o.

Underlying structure:

até + a + o farol → até ao farol

Rules:

a + o = ao
In European Portuguese, this contraction is obligatory in standard language; you do not write até o farol.

So até ao farol is the only correct standard form here.

What’s the difference between até ao farol and para o farol?

Both relate to direction, but they’re not the same:

até ao farol
- literally: up to the lighthouse
- emphasizes the endpoint/limit of a path
- fits well when talking about showing a route or going as far as a point
para o farol
- literally: to the lighthouse (towards it, with that as a destination)
- focuses more on purpose/destination than on the idea of a limit or full extent.

In your sentence, até ao farol is more natural because mostrar o caminho até… is a very common pattern for “show the way (all the way) to…”.

You could say O guia mostra o caminho para o farol, and it’s understandable, but the usual and more idiomatic choice here is até ao farol.

What gender is farol, and how do I make it plural?

farol is masculine:

singular: o farol – the lighthouse / the headlight
plural: os faróis – the lighthouses / the headlights

So you’d say:

até ao farol – up to the lighthouse
até aos faróis – up to the lighthouses

Does farol always mean “lighthouse”? I’ve seen it used for lights on cars too.

farol has several meanings, depending on context:

Lighthouse – common in European Portuguese.
- o farol da costa – the lighthouse on the coast
Headlight (of a car, etc.)
- os faróis do carro – the car’s headlights
In some varieties (especially Brazilian Portuguese), people may colloquially use farol for “traffic light”, though in European Portuguese the standard word is semáforo.

In your sentence, with o caminho até ao farol, the natural reading is “lighthouse”.

Can I move até ao farol earlier in the sentence, like O guia mostra até ao farol o caminho?

You could move it, but it becomes unnatural or at least marked:

O guia mostra o caminho até ao farol. – natural, standard order
O guia mostra até ao farol o caminho. – grammatically possible, but sounds odd and not how people usually say it.

Portuguese, like English, usually keeps a clear:

Subject – Verb – Object – (complements)

So O guia (S) mostra (V) o caminho (O) até ao farol (complement) is the preferred structure.

How do you pronounce guia and farol in European Portuguese?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation:

guia → /ˈɡi.ɐ/
- gui- like “gee” in English “geese”, but shorter
- final -a is more like a very light, almost unstressed “uh” sound
farol → /fɐˈɾɔl/
- fa-: the a is a very reduced sound, like the a in “about”
- -rol: rolled or tapped r, o like in “off”, and a clear final l

So the whole sentence in EP is roughly: [u ˈɡi.ɐ ˈmɔʃ.tɾɐ u kɐˈmi.ɲu aˈtɛ aw fɐˈɾɔl].