Log inSign up

A farmácia está à direita do banco.

A farmácia está à direita do banco.
The pharmacy is to the right of the bank.
From Lesson 31:Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A farmácia está à direita do banco.

Why do we use está instead of é for a permanent building?
Although buildings do not move, Portuguese generally uses the verb estar (which often describes temporary states) to talk about the physical location of people, places, and things. You will almost always use está to say where something is located.
What does the backwards accent on à mean?
It shows that two words merged together. The phrase for 'to the right' uses the preposition a (to/at) and the feminine word for 'the', which is also a. Instead of writing a a direita, Portuguese combines them into à direita.
Why is it do banco instead of just de banco?
In Portuguese, you usually have to say 'of the bank' rather than just 'of bank'. The word do is a mandatory contraction of the preposition de (of) and the masculine word for 'the', o. Because banco is masculine, they combine into do.
How would I say 'to the left of the bank' using this same structure?
You just swap direita (right) for esquerda (left) to make à esquerda do banco. Both direction words are feminine, so the grammar rules around them stay exactly the same.

Learn A farmácia está à direita do banco and more in Portuguese

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Portuguese →