Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O casaco é lindo. Quero comprá-lo.

When attaching a direct object pronoun like o (meaning 'it' or 'him') to a verb that ends in -r, Portuguese drops that final letter and changes the pronoun to start with an 'l'. So, comprar + o becomes comprá-lo.

Why is there an accent mark on the 'a' in comprá-lo?

When we drop the final -r from an -ar verb like comprar, the last syllable is still stressed. To keep the pronunciation correct and show where the stress falls, we add an acute accent to the vowel. That is why it becomes comprá-lo.

What if I wanted to buy a shirt (a camisa) instead of a coat? How would the pronoun change?

Because a camisa is a feminine noun, you would use the feminine pronoun a. Following the same rule of dropping the -r and adding an 'l', the word would become comprá-la.

Why does the first sentence use é for 'is' instead of está?