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A casa da mãe é bonita.

A casa da mãe é bonita.
The mother's house is beautiful.
From Lesson 5:Origin and possession (de, do, da)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A casa da mãe é bonita.

Why do we use da here instead of just de?
In Portuguese, there is no apostrophe-s ('s) to show possession. Instead, you say "the house of the mother". The word da is a contraction of the preposition de (of) and the feminine definite article a (the). Together, they mean "of the".
Would it be wrong to say A casa de mãe?
Yes, it would sound unnatural. In European Portuguese, we almost always use a definite article (o or a) before nouns referring to people, like family members or names. Because we need the article a for mãe, it must combine with de to form da.
Why is the verb é used instead of está for "is"?
The word é comes from the verb ser, which is used for permanent or intrinsic characteristics. Being beautiful is considered a lasting quality of the house. If the house were only temporarily looking nice (for example, just decorated for a party), you would use está from the temporary verb estar.
Does the adjective bonita agree with the house or the mother?
It agrees with the subject of the sentence, which is A casa (the house). Because casa is a feminine singular noun, the adjective takes the feminine singular form bonita. Even if it were the father's house (A casa do pai), it would still be bonita because the house itself is the beautiful thing!

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