Breakdown of É fácil chegar lá de metro.
ser
to be
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
o metro
the subway
fácil
easy
chegar
to arrive
lá
there (far off)
Questions & Answers about É fácil chegar lá de metro.
Why do we use chegar (to arrive) instead of a literal translation for the verb 'to get'?
In English, we often use 'to get' for traveling somewhere (like 'get there'). In Portuguese, you use chegar, which literally means 'to arrive'. So you are actually saying 'It is easy to arrive there'.
Why is the preposition de used here for 'by' instead of por?
When talking about means of transportation in Portuguese, you use the preposition de. So 'by metro' is de metro, 'by car' is de carro, and 'by train' is de comboio.
We use lá for 'there' in this sentence, but could I use ali or aí instead?
Lá is the best choice here because it refers to a place that is distant from both the speaker and the listener, such as a different neighborhood or city. Aí means 'there where you are', and ali means 'over there', usually somewhere you can physically point to within sight.
Why doesn't É have a subject pronoun before it to mean 'It is'?
Portuguese often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending tells you who or what the subject is. For impersonal expressions like 'It is easy' or 'It is possible', you just start directly with the third-person singular verb É, without needing a word for 'it'.
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