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A moeda está na gaveta.

A moeda está na gaveta.
The coin is in the drawer.
From Lesson 38:Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A moeda está na gaveta.

Why do we use está here instead of é?
In Portuguese, there are two verbs for "to be": ser and estar. We use estar (which becomes está for "it") to talk about location. Since the coin is physically in the drawer, we use estar because it describes where something is located right now.
I don't see the words for "in the". Where do they come from?
They are combined into the word na. In Portuguese, the word for "in" or "on" is em. When you put em next to the feminine word for "the" (a), they combine to make na (em + a = na).
How do we know gaveta (drawer) is a feminine word?
The most common clue for feminine words in Portuguese is that they end in the letter a, just like gaveta and moeda. Because they are feminine, they must be paired with matching feminine words like a (the) and na (in the).
Can moeda mean anything besides "coin"?
Yes! While it means "coin" in this physical context, moeda is also the general word for "currency", such as the Euro or the US Dollar.

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