Learn Portuguese (Portugal): De onde é o pai?

In English, we often end a sentence with a preposition ("Where is the father from?"). In Portuguese, prepositions like de (from/of) must come before the question word they belong to. So, you literally ask, "From where is the father?" (De onde é o pai?).

The current lesson is about contractions like do and da. Why doesn't de combine with onde?

The preposition de mainly contracts with articles (like o to make do) and some pronouns. Because onde (where) is a question word, de does not combine with it, so they remain separate words.

Why do we use é here instead of está?

É is a form of the verb ser, which is used for permanent facts. A person's place of origin doesn't change, so we use ser. If you wanted to ask where the father is located right now, you would use the temporary verb estar instead: Onde está o pai? (Notice we also drop the de, because we are no longer asking where he is from).

Could o pai just mean "Dad" in this context?