Breakdown of O casaco dele é muito grande.
ser
to be
muito
much / very
grande
big / large
dele
his (forms: dela, deles, delas)
Questions & Answers about O casaco dele é muito grande.
Why do we say O casaco dele instead of putting a word for "his" before the noun?
In Portuguese, the most common way to say "his" is to use dele placed directly after the noun. It literally translates to "of him" (a combination of de + ele). Because of this structure, you still need to use the definite article "the" (O) before the noun itself.
Would dele change to match the noun if we were talking about a feminine object instead of casaco?
Why does the adjective grande end in "-e" instead of "-o" to match the masculine noun casaco?
Not all Portuguese adjectives change between "-o" and "-a". Adjectives that naturally end in "-e", like grande (big) or inteligente (smart), are gender-neutral. This means grande is used exactly the same way for both masculine and feminine nouns.
Why do we use é (from the verb ser) here instead of está (from the verb estar)?