Breakdown of Os meus sapatos estão debaixo da cama.
estar
to be (temporary / location)
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
a cama
the bed
debaixo de
under
o sapato
the shoe
Questions & Answers about Os meus sapatos estão debaixo da cama.
Why is it debaixo da instead of just debaixo de?
The phrase for 'under' is debaixo de. However, we need to say 'under the bed'. Since bed (cama) is a feminine word, 'the bed' is a cama. In Portuguese, the preposition de and the article a always merge together to form da.
Why do we need Os at the beginning? Doesn't that translate to 'The my shoes'?
Yes, it literally translates to 'The my shoes'! In European Portuguese, you almost always put a definite article (like O, A, Os, or As) before possessive words like 'my' (meu). Because sapatos is masculine and plural, we use Os meus.
Why does this sentence use estão for 'are' instead of são?
How do you pronounce the letter 'x' in debaixo?
In the word debaixo, the letter 'x' makes a 'sh' sound, just like in the English word 'shoe'. The whole word sounds roughly like 'd-BYE-shoo'.
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