Senhora, há um cabide livre ao lado da porta para o seu casaco.

Senhora means Madam or ma’am here. It is being used to address someone directly, not as part of the main sentence structure.

The comma is there because Senhora is a vocative: a word used to call or address someone.

So the structure is basically:

• Senhora, = addressing the person
• há um cabide livre... = the actual statement

A more informal version might leave this out completely, or use a different form of address.

Here, há means there is or there are.

It comes from the verb haver, which is commonly used in Portuguese to express existence:

• Há um cabide = There is a hanger / hook
• Há dois cabides = There are two hangers / hooks

A very important point: in this use, há does not change for singular or plural. It stays há.

Also, the h is silent, so há is pronounced basically like ah.

In European Portuguese, há is the safest and most standard way to say there is / there are.

Compare:

• Há um cabide livre = standard, neutral
• Existe um cabide livre = possible, but a bit more formal or more like there exists
• Tem um cabide livre = can appear in speech, but it is less standard in careful European Portuguese

So for a learner of Portuguese from Portugal, há is the best choice here.

Yes. Cabide is a masculine noun, so it takes:

• um cabide = a hanger / hook
• o cabide = the hanger / hook

This is useful because nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, so you often just have to learn the gender with the word.

Cabide usually means hanger, but depending on context it can also refer to a coat hook or something used to hang clothes on.

In this sentence, because it says ao lado da porta, it probably means a hook or hanger by the door where someone can hang a coat.

So the exact image depends on context, but the general idea is clear: a place to hang the coat.

Livre here means free, available, or not being used.

So:

• um cabide livre = a free / available hanger or hook

Portuguese adjectives often come after the noun, unlike English. So it is normal to say:

• cabide livre
• porta aberta
• casaco azul

You would not normally put livre before cabide here.

Also, livre is better than vazio in this sentence, because livre emphasizes that it is available for use, not just empty.

This is a very common Portuguese structure.

• ao = contraction of a + o
• da = contraction of de + a

The full expression is ao lado de, which means beside, next to, or at the side of.

So:

• ao lado da porta = beside the door / next to the door

You will see this kind of contraction all the time in Portuguese.

Para here means for and shows purpose:

• para o seu casaco = for your coat

So the idea is that the hanger is available for the coat to be hung there.

This sounds very natural in Portuguese. It is not saying the hanger belongs to the coat; it is saying the hanger is intended for that use.

In European Portuguese, it is very common, and usually most natural, to use the definite article before possessives:

• o meu livro
• a tua mala
• o seu casaco

So o seu casaco is exactly what you would expect in Portugal.

Without the article, the phrase is not impossible, but it is less typical in normal European Portuguese and may sound more literary, more marked, or less natural in everyday speech.

Yes. In this sentence, seu means your, and it is formal/polite.

Because the person is being addressed as Senhora, the sentence is clearly speaking politely to her:

• o seu casaco = your coat

In Portuguese, seu/sua can sometimes be ambiguous in isolation, because it can also refer to his, her, or their depending on context. But here the direct address makes the meaning clear.

For informal your, especially in European Portuguese, you would often use:

• o teu casaco = your coat, informal

Yes, it is politely formal.

The main clues are:

• Senhora
• o seu casaco

This is the kind of sentence you might hear from staff in a restaurant, hotel, shop, or waiting room.

A more informal version, speaking to a friend or someone younger, might be:

• Há um cabide livre ao lado da porta para o teu casaco.

A rough guide in European Portuguese:

• Senhora ≈ suh-NYOR-uh
• há ≈ AH
• um ≈ nasal oom
• cabide ≈ kuh-BEE-duh
• livre ≈ LEE-vruh
• ao lado da porta ≈ ow LAH-doo duh POR-tuh
• casaco ≈ kuh-ZA-koo

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• The h in há is silent.
• European Portuguese often reduces unstressed vowels, especially at the ends of words.
• The nh in Senhora is like the ny sound in canyon.

Casaco is broader than English coat in some contexts. It can refer to a coat, jacket, or similar outer garment, depending on the situation.

So although the translation may show coat, the Portuguese word itself is a bit more flexible.