Breakdown of O professor está no supermercado.
o professor
the teacher (m)
estar
to be (temporary / location)
em
in / on / at
o supermercado
the supermarket
Questions & Answers about O professor está no supermercado.
The current lesson is about regular '-ar' verbs. Is está a regular '-ar' verb?
The verb está comes from estar (to be). Even though it ends in '-ar', it is an irregular verb, meaning it does not follow the exact same pattern as the regular '-ar' verbs you are studying. However, its 'he/she/it' ending here is -a, which matches the regular pattern, it just gets an extra accent mark to become está.
Why does the sentence use está instead of é for the word "is"?
Where does the word no come from in this sentence?
The word no translates to "in the" or "at the". In Portuguese, when the preposition em (in/at/on) is followed by the masculine word for "the" (o), they must combine into the contraction no. We use no here because supermercado is a masculine noun.
Can professor mean a normal school teacher, or just a university professor?
It means both! In Portuguese, o professor can refer to a school teacher of any grade level, as well as a university professor. If the teacher were female, the sentence would use a professora.
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