Breakdown of A mãe está no trabalho?
a mãe
the mother
estar
to be (temporary / location)
no
in the / on the / at the (m, f, pl forms: na, nos, nas)
o trabalho
the work / the job
Questions & Answers about A mãe está no trabalho?
Why do we use está instead of é in this sentence?
Which person is the verb está conjugated for?
It is the "he/she/it" form (third-person singular). Because the subject of the sentence is a mãe (the mother), which is a "she", we use está.
Where does the word no come from?
No means "at the" or "in the". In Portuguese, the preposition em (in/at/on) combines with the word for "the" that follows it. Since trabalho is a masculine word, we need the masculine "the" (o). When you combine em + o, they shrink down into the word no.
How do you form a question like this in Portuguese? The words are in the exact same order as a regular sentence.
That's exactly how it works in Portuguese! You don't need to change the word order or add a word like "does" or "is" at the very beginning. To change the statement A mãe está no trabalho (The mother is at work) into a question, you just add a question mark and make your voice go up at the end when speaking.