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Onde está o meu computador?

Onde está o meu computador?
Where is my computer?
From Lesson 19:My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Onde está o meu computador?

Why is there an "o" before "meu"?
In European Portuguese, you almost always need to put a definite article (like o or a) before a possessive word like meu. Literally, the sentence translates to "Where is the my computer?". Since computador is masculine and singular, we use o.
Would a female speaker say "a minha computador"?
No, she would still say o meu computador. Possessive words like meu change to match the gender and number of the object being owned, not the person who owns it. Because computador is a masculine word, you must use meu, regardless of your own gender.
Why do we use "está" for "is" here instead of "é"?
We use está (from the verb estar) because we are talking about location. When you are asking where something is physically located right now, you always use estar, not the permanent "to be" verb ser.
Can I leave out the "o" and just say "Onde está meu computador"?
In Portugal, you really shouldn't. While dropping the article before a possessive is very common in Brazilian Portuguese, in European Portuguese the article is mandatory in everyday speech. Dropping it here would sound unnatural to a Portuguese person.

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