Breakdown of O avião passa por cima da cidade.
Questions & Answers about O avião passa por cima da cidade.
Why use por cima da instead of em cima da?
por cima de implies movement over or across something, which perfectly fits a plane flying. em cima de means resting on top of something. If you used em cima da, it would sound like the plane is physically driving on the rooftops of the city! Where does the da come from before cidade?
The full expression for "over" here is por cima de. Because cidade (city) is a feminine noun, it needs the feminine word for "the", which is a. In Portuguese, the preposition de plus the article a must always combine into da. Could I use sobre instead of por cima de?
Yes! O avião passa sobre a cidade means the exact same thing. por cima de is just a bit more conversational and emphasizes the physical path of the movement. How do I know cidade is feminine?
A great trick to remember is that almost all Portuguese words ending in -dade (like cidade, verdade, or idade) are feminine. That is why the sentence uses the feminine article a (hidden inside da). Learn O avião passa por cima da cidade and more in Portuguese
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