Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O número da casa é dez.

In Portuguese, you often combine the word de (of) with the word for the. Since casa is a feminine word, the house is a casa. When de and a meet, they merge into da. So, da casa literally means of the house.

We say the house number in English. Why is the word order different here?

In Portuguese, you usually cannot put two nouns next to each other to make a new concept like house number or dog food. Instead, you must link them with de (of). You have to phrase it as the number of the house (o número da casa).

Why does the word número have an accent mark?

The accent shows you which part of the word to emphasize when speaking. Normally, words ending in -o have the stress on the second-to-last syllable. The accent breaks this rule, telling you to stress the very first syllable: NU-me-ro.

How do you pronounce the 'z' at the end of the number dez?

In Portugal, when a word ends in 'z' and is at the very end of a sentence like this, it makes a sh sound. So dez sounds a lot like desh.

Why do we use é instead of está for is?