Questions & Answers about A loja fica no rés-do-chão.
Why does this sentence use fica instead of está for "is"?
While estar is often used for temporary locations, the verb ficar (which normally means "to stay") is the most natural choice in Portuguese to describe the permanent or fixed location of a building, city, or place. You are essentially saying the shop "stays" on the ground floor! What do the individual words in rés-do-chão mean?
Rés means "flush" or "even", do means "of the", and chão means "ground" or "floor". Put together, it means "level with the ground". It is the standard way to say "ground floor" in Portugal. Why is it no rés-do-chão instead of just em rés-do-chão?
In Portuguese, the preposition em (in/on/at) must combine with "the" when talking about specific locations. Since rés-do-chão is a masculine noun, we need the masculine word for "the", which is o. The preposition em plus o always contracts to no. Is rés-do-chão treated as one word, and how would I make it plural?
Yes, the hyphens connect it into a single compound noun. If you ever need to talk about multiple ground floors, the noun itself doesn't change! You just change the article to plural: os rés-do-chão. Learn A loja fica no rés-do-chão 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