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A loja é nova e o hospital é grande.

A loja é nova e o hospital é grande.
The store is new and the hospital is large.
From Lesson 14:Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A loja é nova e o hospital é grande.

Why do we use a before loja but o before hospital?
In Portuguese, all nouns have a gender. Loja (store) is feminine, so it uses the feminine word for 'the', which is a. Hospital is masculine, so it takes the masculine o.
Why is the word for new nova here instead of novo?
Adjectives (describing words) have to match the gender of the noun they describe. Since loja is feminine, the adjective changes its ending to the feminine form, nova.
If adjectives have to match the noun, why doesn't grande change its ending for the masculine hospital?
Most adjectives ending in -o change to -a for feminine nouns. However, adjectives that end in -e, like grande (large or big), are gender-neutral. You use the exact same word, grande, for both masculine and feminine nouns.
Why do we use é for 'is' in this sentence instead of está?
É is the 'he/she/it' form of the verb ser, which we use for permanent or defining characteristics. While a store is not new forever, its age and physical size (grande) are treated as fundamental traits of the buildings, so we use ser rather than the temporary verb estar.

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