Breakdown of O meu tio mora em Lisboa.
Lisboa
Lisbon
em
in / on / at
morar
to live
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
o tio
the uncle
Questions & Answers about O meu tio mora em Lisboa.
Why does the sentence start with O if it just means 'My uncle'?
In European Portuguese, you almost always need a definite article (o, a, os, or as) before a possessive word like meu (my). Literally, the sentence translates to 'The my uncle'. Since tio is a masculine and singular word, we use O.
Could I say vive instead of mora here?
Yes, you can! Both morar and viver mean 'to live'. Morar specifically means to reside or have an address somewhere, while viver is broader and means to exist or experience life. When talking about what city, country, or house someone resides in, they are completely interchangeable.
Why is it just em Lisboa instead of na Lisboa?
The preposition em means 'in' or 'at'. While Portuguese often combines em with 'the' to make words like no or na, most cities and towns (including Lisboa) do not use a definite article. Because there is no 'the' for Lisbon, we just use the plain preposition em. A famous exception is the city of Porto, which does use the article, so you would say no Porto.
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