Breakdown of A pimenta está ao lado do sal.
do
of the / from the (do, da, dos, das)
estar
to be (temporary / location)
ao lado de
next to
o sal
the salt
a pimenta
the pepper
Questions & Answers about A pimenta está ao lado do sal.
Why do we use está here instead of é?
What makes up the words ao and do in this sentence?
They are contractions! The phrase for "next to" is ao lado de (literally "at the side of"). Because sal (salt) is a masculine word, it needs the article o (the). When the preposition de (of/from) meets o, they combine to make do. Similarly, ao is a contraction of the preposition a (to/at) and the masculine article o belonging to the word lado.
Does ao lado always need de after it?
Yes, whenever you want to say "next to [something]", you must use the preposition de to connect it to that object. If you just wanted to say "The pepper is on the side", you could say A pimenta está ao lado without it. But since we mention what it is next to, we need de.
How can I tell if pimenta and sal are masculine or feminine?
Pimenta ends in an "a", which is a very strong clue that it is a feminine word, which is why it uses the feminine article a at the start of the sentence. Sal ends in a consonant, which doesn't give us an obvious rule to follow, but it is a masculine word, which is why it takes the article o (hidden inside do).
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