Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Professora, o seu livro está na mesa.

Professora, o seu livro está na mesa.

Teacher, your book is on the table.

Breakdown of Professora, o seu livro está na mesa.

to be (temporary / location)

Questions & Answers about Professora, o seu livro está na mesa.

Why is there an "o" before "seu livro"? Doesn't that mean "the your book"?

In European Portuguese, you normally put a definite article (like o or a) right before a possessive word. Because livro (book) is a masculine noun, we use o to make o seu livro.

Doesn't seu usually mean "his" or "her"? Why does it mean "your" here?

You are right that seu means "his" or "her", but it is also used for "your" when speaking to someone formally. Since the speaker is respectfully talking to a teacher (professora), they use the formal "your" (o seu).

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

Portuguese has two verbs for "to be": ser and estar. We always use estar to talk about the physical location of things, like where a book is placed. That is why we use está instead of é here.

Where does the word na come from?