Breakdown of O cão das raparigas é bonito.
ser
to be
a rapariga
the girl
bonito
beautiful
do
of the / from the (do, da, dos, das)
Questions & Answers about O cão das raparigas é bonito.
In English we say "the girls' dog". Why is the order reversed in O cão das raparigas?
Portuguese doesn't use an apostrophe-'s' for possession. Instead, you literally say "the dog of the girls". You put the thing being owned first (O cão), followed by a form of the preposition de (of), and then the owner (raparigas).
Where does the word das come from in this sentence?
das is a contraction (two words combined into one) of the preposition de (of) and the feminine plural article as (the). Because raparigas is feminine and plural, saying "of the girls" requires combining de + as to make das.
Why is the adjective bonito masculine if it is owned by the girls (raparigas)?
Adjectives in Portuguese must match the gender and number of the noun they are actually describing, not the person who owns it. Since bonito (beautiful/handsome) describes the dog (o cão, which is masculine and singular), the adjective has to be masculine and singular too.
Why do we use é instead of está for "is"?