Word
A fronteira fica a vinte quilómetros.
Meaning
The border is twenty kilometres away.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of A fronteira fica a vinte quilómetros.
vinte
twenty
a
to / at (direction)
o quilómetro
the kilometre
ficar
to be located (of places)
Questions & Answers about A fronteira fica a vinte quilómetros.
Why is the verb fica used here instead of é or está?
Why is there an a before vinte quilómetros?
In Portuguese, to express how far away something is, you use the preposition a. It translates roughly to "at" or "at a distance of". Therefore, fica a vinte quilómetros translates smoothly to "it is twenty kilometres away".
Is there a specific word for "away" in this Portuguese sentence?
No, you don't need one! The structure fica a (is located at) followed by a distance naturally implies "away" in English. If you wanted to be extra specific, you could add de distância (of distance) at the end, but the sentence is perfectly complete without it.
Why does quilómetros have an accent mark?
The accent mark on the ó tells you exactly where to put the stress when speaking. Without it, the default pronunciation rules would stress the second-to-last syllable (the "me"). The accent ensures you stress the correct syllable: qui-LÓ-me-tros.