Breakdown of Os sapatos estão ao lado da porta.
estar
to be (temporary / location)
a porta
the door
ao lado de
next to
o sapato
the shoe
Questions & Answers about Os sapatos estão ao lado da porta.
Why does the sentence use da porta instead of de porta?
The preposition phrase for "next to" is ao lado de. However, in Portuguese, you almost always need to include the word "the" before nouns. Because the word for door is feminine (a porta), the preposition de merges with a to form the contraction da.
What does the word ao mean in the phrase ao lado?
Why do we use estão for "are" here instead of são?