Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O gato está atrás do sofá.

O gato está atrás do sofá.

The cat is behind the sofa.

Breakdown of O gato está atrás do sofá.

o gato

the cat

of the / from the (do, da, dos, das)

estar

to be (temporary / location)

o sofá

the sofa

Questions & Answers about O gato está atrás do sofá.

Why do we use está instead of é for "is" here?

In Portuguese, there are two verbs for "to be": ser and estar. We use estar (and its forms like está) to talk about physical locations, even if the object isn't moving. Because we are talking about where the cat is located, we use está.

The word for "behind" is atrás. Why is there a do after it?

Most location phrases in Portuguese, like atrás (behind), em frente (in front), or ao lado (next to), must be followed by the preposition de (of). So, "behind the sofa" is structurally "behind of the sofa". Here, de combines with the masculine word o (the) to make do.

How do we know to use do instead of da before sofá?

The word sofá is masculine, even though it ends in an "a", which usually signals a feminine word. Because it is masculine, it uses the masculine "the", which is o. When you combine de + o, you get do.