Log inSign up

A bicicleta dele está na rua.

A bicicleta dele está na rua.
His bicycle is in the street.
From Lesson 20:His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A bicicleta dele está na rua.

Why does dele come after bicicleta instead of before it?
In Portuguese, words like dele (his), dela (her), deles, and delas (their) always come after the noun they describe. You also need to use a definite article like a or o before the noun. So, instead of saying "his bicycle", you are literally saying "the bicycle of him" (a bicicleta dele).
Bicicleta is a feminine word. Why do we use dele instead of dela?
The word dele matches the owner, not the object being owned! Because the bicycle belongs to a man, we use dele (which comes from de + ele). If the bicycle belonged to a woman, we would say a bicicleta dela, even though the bicycle itself is always a feminine object.
Why use está instead of é for "is" in this sentence?
We use está (from the verb estar) because we are talking about a physical location. In Portuguese, estar is used for where things are located and for temporary states, while ser (where é comes from) is used for permanent characteristics.
Where does the word na come from?
na is a mandatory combination (called a contraction) of the preposition em (in/on/at) and the feminine word for "the" (a). We use na here because rua (street) is a feminine noun. If it were a masculine location, we would use no.

Learn A bicicleta dele está na rua and more in Portuguese

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Portuguese →