Breakdown of Ela está a desenhar na parede.
ela
she
estar
to be (temporary / location)
em
in / on / at
a parede
the wall
Questions & Answers about Ela está a desenhar na parede.
Why does this sentence use a desenhar instead of a Portuguese word ending in '-ing'?
In European Portuguese, to say what someone is doing right now, we use the verb estar (to be) plus a plus the infinitive (unconjugated) form of the verb. So está a desenhar literally translates to 'is at to draw', which is how we say 'is drawing'. This is the standard way to form the present continuous in Portugal.
Why do we use está here instead of é for the word 'is'?
Where does the word na come from in na parede?
Na is a mandatory combination of the preposition em (which means in, on, or at) and the feminine word for 'the', which is a. Because she is drawing on 'the' wall, em and a combine to make na.
If parede ends in an 'e', how do we know to use the feminine na instead of the masculine no?