Log inSign up

Penso que ele está no escritório.

Penso que ele está no escritório.
I think he is at the office.
From Lesson 119:Dizer que... (as orações completivas)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Penso que ele está no escritório.

I usually say acho que for "I think". Can I use that here instead of penso que?
Yes, absolutely! Acho que ele está no escritório means exactly the same thing. Achar is actually much more common in everyday spoken Portuguese when expressing an opinion or guess. Pensar is slightly more formal in this context, though still widely used.
In English we can say "I think he is" or "I think that he is". Can I drop the que and just say Penso ele está?
No, you cannot drop it in Portuguese. Whenever you connect a phrase like "I think" or "I know" to a new clause with a subject and verb, you must use que. Leaving it out is grammatically incorrect and will sound very unnatural to native speakers.
Why do we use está (from estar) here instead of é (from ser)?
We use estar because we are talking about a person's physical location. Even if he works at that office every day, his physical presence inside the building right now is considered a temporary state, which is a classic rule for choosing estar.
Why is it no escritório instead of em o escritório?
In Portuguese, the preposition em (meaning in, on, or at) mandatorily contracts with definite articles. Since escritório is a masculine noun, it takes the article o (the). When em and o meet, they always merge into the single word no.

Learn Penso que ele está no escritório and more in Portuguese

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Portuguese →