Lesson nº 17 – More little words in Portuguese – EM

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Last lesson we’ve talked about a little but important Portuguese verb: “há”. Today we’ll have a look at other little words, always difficult to remember and sometimes hard to use in the right context. Let’s learn more about the preposition “EM”. This one is a very useful one because it’s the equivalent to “IN”, “ON” and “AT”. The problem is that in Portuguese if you want to say “in / at /on + the” we have a contraction between “EM” plus the article. Confused? Let’s see how this works:

EM + DEFINITE ARTICLES (O / A / OS / AS)

➢ IN/AT/ON +THE (masc. and sing) = NO (EM + O)
Example: O cão está no carro. (The dog is in the car.)

➢ IN/AT/ON +THE (fem. and sing) = NA (EM + A)
Example: O livro está na mesa. (The book is on the table)

➢ IN/AT/ON +THE (masc and plural) = NOS (EM + OS)
Example: Ele mora nos Estados Unidos. (He lives in the United States)

➢ IN/AT/ON +THE (fem. and plural) = NAS (EM + AS)
Example: Ele mora nas Bahamas. (He lives in the Bahamas.)

EM + INDEFINITE ARTICLES (UM / UMA / UNS / UMAS)

➢ IN/AT/ON + A (masc. and sing) = NUM (EM + UM)
Example: O cão está num carro. (The dog is in a car.)

➢ IN/AT/ON + A (fem. And sing) = NUMA (EM + UMA)
Example: O livro está numa mesa. (The book is on a table)

➢ IN/AT/ON + SOME (masc. and plural) = NUNS (EM + UNS)
Example: Eles moram nums apartamentos novos. (They live in some new apartments)

➢ IN/AT/ON + SOME (fem. and plural) = NUMAS (EM + UMAS)
Example: Eles moram numas casas velhas. (They live in some old houses.)