Breakdown of A mesa está no meio da sala.
a mesa
the table
estar
to be (temporary / location)
a sala
the living room
no meio de
in the middle of
Questions & Answers about A mesa está no meio da sala.
Why use está (estar) instead of é (ser)? I thought a table's location was somewhat permanent.
A common rule of thumb is that estar is for temporary things and ser is for permanent things, but location is a major exception! In Portuguese, we almost always use estar for the physical location of people, places, and objects, regardless of how permanent they are.
What words are combined to make no and da?
Portuguese frequently combines prepositions with words for 'the'. no is a combination of em (in/on/at) and o (the). We use it here because meio is a masculine word. Similarly, da is a combination of de (of) and a (the), used here because sala (room) is a feminine word.
Is no meio de a set phrase?
Yes, no meio de is a very common fixed phrase that translates directly to 'in the middle of'. You will always use this combination of words to describe something centrally located, just making sure to change the word de to do, da, dos, or das depending on the gender and number of the noun that follows it.
I've seen meio used to mean 'a bit' or 'half'. How do I know it means 'middle' here?
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