Breakdown of O meu pai tem a bicicleta dela.
o pai
the father / the parents
ter
to have
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
dele
his (forms: dela, deles, delas)
Questions & Answers about O meu pai tem a bicicleta dela.
Why does dela come after the noun, while meu comes before?
Words like dele and dela are formed by combining the preposition de (of) with a pronoun like ela (her). Because a bicicleta dela literally translates to 'the bicycle of her', the possessive part naturally has to come after the noun.
Does dela agree with the bicycle or the person who owns it?
Why do we say O meu pai instead of just Meu pai?
In European Portuguese, you almost always need a definite article (o, a, os, or as) right before possessive words like meu or minha. You can think of it as saying 'The my father', which is just how the grammar naturally works in Portugal.
Which verb is tem from?