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A escola fica a dois quarteirões daqui.

A escola fica a dois quarteirões daqui.
The school is two blocks from here.
From Lesson 166:Na cidade (o multibanco, os bombeiros)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about A escola fica a dois quarteirões daqui.

Why is fica used here instead of é or está to mean "is"?
In Portuguese, the verb ficar (to stay) is commonly used to talk about the permanent location of a building, place, or city. While you can sometimes hear está used for location, fica is the most natural and standard choice for saying where a landmark like a school is situated.
Why does the word for "blocks" end in -ões?
The singular word for a city block is quarteirão. In Portuguese, most nouns that end in the nasal sound -ão form their plural by dropping the -ão and adding -ões, making it quarteirões.
What is the purpose of the a right before the distance?
When you want to express how far away something is, Portuguese uses the structure a [distance] de [reference point]. The a here acts a bit like saying the school is located "at" a distance of two blocks.
How is the word daqui formed?
The word daqui is a mandatory contraction of the preposition de (from) and the location word aqui (here). Together, they literally mean "from here".

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