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A casa fica no alto do monte.

A casa fica no alto do monte.
The house is at the top of the hill.
From Lesson 476:Terra e história (a ilha, o povo)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A casa fica no alto do monte.

Why use fica here instead of está to mean "is"?
While está can be used for locations, ficar is heavily preferred in European Portuguese when talking about the permanent, fixed location of buildings, cities, or geographical features. Since the house is not going to move, fica sounds much more natural here.
Is alto being used as a noun in this sentence?
Yes. Although alto is usually an adjective meaning "tall" or "high", here it acts as a masculine noun meaning "the top" or "the highest point". The phrase no alto de is a very common way to express "at the top of".
What is the difference between a monte, a colina, and a montanha?
A monte is a hill or a small mountain, often wilder or more rugged than a colina (which implies a gentle, rolling hill). A montanha is a large, full-sized mountain. In Portugal, monte is frequently used to describe typical countryside hills.

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