Breakdown of A igreja histórica fica na praça onde comemos ontem.
onde
where
em
in / on / at
comer
to eat
ontem
yesterday
Questions & Answers about A igreja histórica fica na praça onde comemos ontem.
Why do we use onde here, and what exactly does it refer to?
The word onde is a relative pronoun meaning "where" or "in which". It is used to refer back to a physical place that was just mentioned—in this case, a praça (the square). It neatly connects the two halves of the sentence: the location of the church, and the fact that you ate there.
Why does the sentence use fica for "is located" instead of a form of estar?
comemos is the present tense for "we eat", so how do we know it means "we ate" here?
For regular verbs ending in -er (like comer) and -ir, the nós (we) form is exactly the same in the simple past tense as it is in the present tense. We only know it means "we ate" instead of "we eat" because of the context word ontem (yesterday).
Could I use em que instead of onde in this sentence?