Breakdown of O carro do pai é novo.
ser
to be
o carro
the car
novo
new / young
do
of the / from the (do, da, dos, das)
Questions & Answers about O carro do pai é novo.
Why does the sentence use do instead of just de pai?
In Portuguese, the preposition de (meaning "of" or "from") usually merges with the word "the" right after it. Because pai is masculine, it uses the definite article o (the). When you combine de + o, they contract into do (of the). So, do pai means "of the father".
How do you show possession without an apostrophe "s" in Portuguese?
Portuguese doesn't have an equivalent to the English apostrophe "s" (like "father's"). Instead, you must reverse the word order and use the preposition de. You literally say "the car of the father", which gives us the structure o carro do pai.
If we were talking about the mother's car, how would the sentence change?
Why do we use é to say the car is new, rather than está?