Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Onde está o cão?

Onde está o cão?

Where is the dog?

Breakdown of Onde está o cão?

o cão

the dog

estar

to be (temporary / location)

onde

where

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Questions & Answers about Onde está o cão?

Why do we use está here instead of é?

In Portuguese, there are two different verbs for "to be". We use forms of estar (like está) to talk about where things are located, even if that location is permanent. é comes from the verb ser, which is used for defining permanent traits and identities, so it does not work when asking for a physical location.

Why is the word o needed before cão?

The word o is the masculine singular definite article, meaning "the". Just like in English, we say "Where is the dog?" rather than "Where is dog?". Dropping the article sounds just as unnatural in Portuguese.

What does the mark over the a in cão do?

That mark is called a tilde. It tells you to pronounce the vowel through your nose. The ão sound is very common in Portuguese and sounds a bit like the English "ow" sound, but heavily nasalized.

Can I change the word order and ask O cão está onde?

Yes, you can! While Onde está o cão? is the most standard way to structure this question, Portuguese is very flexible. Putting the question word onde at the end of the sentence is perfectly correct and very common in casual spoken Portuguese.