Breakdown of O meu apartamento fica no primeiro andar.
em
in / on / at
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
o apartamento
the flat
ficar
to be located (of places)
o andar
the floor (story)
primeiro
first
Questions & Answers about O meu apartamento fica no primeiro andar.
Why is it primeiro and not primeira?
Why does primeiro come before the noun andar? I thought Portuguese adjectives usually go after.
You are right that most descriptive adjectives come after the noun. However, ordinal numbers (like primeiro, segundo, terceiro) are an exception. They almost always come before the noun they are counting, just like in English.
Why does the sentence use fica instead of está for "is"?
When talking about the permanent location of buildings, addresses, or parts of a building like an apartment, European Portuguese typically uses the verb ficar (to stay) instead of estar. You will often hear this when asking for directions, like Onde fica...? (Where is...?)
Why do we need the article O at the very beginning before meu?
In European Portuguese, it is standard to put a definite article (o, a, os, as) before a possessive word like meu (my). Because apartamento is masculine, we say O meu apartamento (literally "The my apartment").
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