Questions & Answers about Nós estamos em frente do cinema.
The lesson teaches the phrase em frente de, but this sentence uses em frente do. Why?
The word do is a combination of de (of) and o (the). Because cinema is a masculine noun, it needs the masculine word for "the" (o) before it. In Portuguese, de + o always merges into do. Can I just say em frente o cinema and skip the de completely?
No, you always need de (or its combined forms like do or da) to connect these location phrases to a noun. Just like in English where we say "in front of the cinema", Portuguese requires that "of" connection. Why do we use estamos for "we are" instead of somos?
Portuguese has two verbs for "to be": estar and ser. You use estar (and its "we" form, estamos) to talk about physical locations. Ser (somos) is used for permanent characteristics, like your nationality. Do I have to include the word Nós at the beginning?
No, it is completely optional! Because the verb form estamos is only ever used for "we", it already tells the listener who is doing the action. Saying Estamos em frente do cinema is perfectly natural. Learn Nós estamos em frente do cinema and more in Portuguese
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