Contractions

What you will practice

• Contract de and em with o and a.
• Contract a and por with o.
• Write the contraction instead of the two separate words.

Explanation

de and em

de plus o is do, and de plus a is da. Venho do Porto means I come from Porto. em plus o is no, and em plus a is na. Estou no café means I am in the café. Writing de o Porto or em o café leaves the words unjoined.

a and por

a plus o is ao: Vou ao cinema. a plus a is à, with a grave accent: Vou à escola. por plus o is pelo: Passei pelo parque. These are obligatory in ordinary writing. The accent on à is what separates it from a.

What not to write

The article’s gender still has to be right before you contract. café is masculine, so the place is no café, not na café. escola is feminine, so the destination with a is à escola. The contraction does not choose the gender. The noun does.

Examples

1. Venho do Porto.from a masculine place
2. Estou no café.in a masculine place
3. Vou ao cinema.to a masculine place
4. Vou à escola.to a feminine place
5. Passei pelo parque.through a masculine place

Common mistakes

• em o and de o are not the written forms. Write no and do.
• à has a grave accent. a escola without it is a different phrase.