Breakdown of Vemos o pátio renovado, ao lado do qual fica a piscina.
a piscina
the swimming pool
ao lado de
next to
ver
to see
ficar
to be located (of places)
o qual
which / who (m.sg)
o pátio
the patio
renovado
renovated
Questions & Answers about Vemos o pátio renovado, ao lado do qual fica a piscina.
Why does this sentence use do qual instead of just que for "which"?
We are using the multi-word preposition ao lado de (next to). In Portuguese, after prepositions with two or more syllables or multi-word phrases, we cannot use the simple relative pronoun que. Instead, we must use o qual or its variations. Because ao lado de ends with de, we contract de + o qual to get do qual.
Does do qual agree with o pátio or a piscina?
It agrees with o pátio. A relative pronoun always matches the gender and number of the noun it refers back to. Since o pátio is masculine and singular, we use o qual (which then becomes do qual). It does not matter that the upcoming word piscina is feminine.
Why use fica for "is" instead of está?
Why is a piscina placed after the verb fica at the end of the sentence?
In relative clauses, Portuguese often swaps the usual subject-verb order to make the sentence flow better. Placing the subject a piscina after the verb fica is a very natural word order here, whereas putting it before the verb might sound slightly clunky.
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