De São Paulo, Do Brasil – Learn How to Say It Right in Portuguese

• Maria é do Brasil. Maria é de São Paulo.
• Maria está no Brasil. Ela está em São Paulo.

When to use de, do, or da? When is it em and when is it no or na? How do you choose the correct preposition to use with countries, cities, and states? I hope this lesson will answer many questions and make things much easier for you.

This is simpler than it seems at a first glance. We have a few rules to help. Of course we also have a few exceptions to the rules.

This lesson is divided in two parts:

Part 1: First you will learn the rules concerning the use of articles;

Part 2: Then you will learn how to use the correct preposition.

Part 1: The Use of Articles

The first thing that you need to know is when to use an article with a country, city, or state. We are talking about the definite articles:

• in Portuguese: a, o, as, os
• in English = the
   

Rule # 1: Cities

Do not use an article in front of city names.

• São Paulo é fascinante = São Paulo is fascinating
• Florianópolis fica no sul do Brasil = Florianópolis is in the south of Brazil
• Porto Alegre tem muita vida cultural = Porto Alegre has a lot of cultural life
• Nova York nunca dorme = New York never sleeps
• São Francisco é um lugar incrível = San Francisco is an incredible place

There are exceptions:

• O Rio de Janeiro é uma cidade maravilhosa = Rio de Janeiro is a wonderful city

Rio de Janeiro means River of January. The same way that you say “the Amazon river”, you also say “the river of January”, or “o Rio de Janeiro”.

When the city is named after a geographic feature, it will take the article.

 

Regra # 2: Countries

You need to use a definite article (a, o, as, os) in front of country names.

• a França
• o Brasil
• os Estados Unidos

Therefore you say:

• A França tem muitas cidades bonitas = France has many beautiful cities
• O Brasil é um país muito grande = Brazil is a very big country
• Os Estados Unidos atraem muitos turistas = The United States attract many tourists

There are exceptions. We do not use an article with Portugal, for example.

• Portugal fica na Europa = Portugal is in Europe

The challenge sometimes is to decide if the country takes the masculine or the feminine article. As a rule of thumb: If the name of the country ends in “a”, it takes the feminine article:

• a Argentina
• a Bolívia
• a Suécia

If the name of the country ends in a letter other than “a”, it takes the masculine article:

• o Uruguai
• o Peru
• o México

One big exception is: o Canadá.

Resist the temptation to translate to your native language. It doesn’t make sense in English to say “The Brazil is a very big country”. In Portuguese, however, you always need the article.

 

Rule # 3: Continents

Use the article with continents.

• a América do Sul/Norte/Central
• a África
• a Europa
• a Ásia
• a Austrália /A Oceania
• a Antártida

 

Regra # 4: States

The article is used with most Brazilian states, and most of the states are masculine:

• o Acre
• o Amapá
• o Amazonas
• o Ceará
• o Espírito Santo
• o Maranhão
• o Mato Grosso
• o Mato Grosso do Sul
• o Pará
• o Paraná
• o Piauí
• o Rio de Janeiro
• o Rio Grande do Norte
• o Rio Grande do Sul
• o Tocantins

There are two Brazilian states that take the feminine article:

• a Bahia
• a Paraíba

Nine Brazilian states do not take any article:

• Alagoas
• Goiás
• Minas Gerais
• Pernambuco
• Rondônia
• Roraima
• Santa Catarina
• São Paulo
• Sergipe

 

Part 2: Now you can choose the correct preposition

Now that you know when to use the article, it will be easy to understand what preposition to use.

We are going to work with two prepositions:

• De = from
• Em = in, on, at

Here is how it works:

1. When places that don’t take the article, use de and em:

• São Paulo
• Maria é de São Paulo = Maria is from São Paulo
• Maria está em São Paulo = Maria is in São Paulo

 

2. With places that take the feminine article, use da (de + a) or na (em + a):

• a Bahia
• Ana é da Bahia = Ana is from Bahia
• Ana está na Bahia = Ana is in Bahia

 

3. With places that take the masculine article, use do (de + o) or no (em + o):

• o Brasil
• Eu sou do Brasil = I am from Brazil
• Eu estou no Brasil = I am in Brazil

Sometimes you need the plural forms: dos, das, nos, nas. Example:

• os Estados Unidos
• Josh é dos Estados Unidos = John is from the United States
• Josh está nos Estados Unidos = John is in the United States

You can use the same reasoning when using the prepositions de and em with other verbs. For example:

• Eu gosto do Brasil = I like Brazil
• Eu nasci no Brasil = I was born in Brazil
• Helena vai morar no Brasil = Helena is going to live in Brazil

The same thing happens when you use nouns in general:

• Ele veio do trabalho = He came from work
• Cris gosta de ler no quarto = Cris likes to read in the bedroom
• As chaves estão na mesa = The keys are on the table

A personal note: Do not feel frustrated if you still make mistakes with this topic. When you’re in the middle of a conversation, your brain is processing everything too fast. It is just natural if you still feel confused even though you know and understand the rules.

I hope that helps!

Quick Quizz: Check Your Learning 

Here is a quick quiz to practice what you just learned. Choose the correct preposition to fill in the blanks. The answers are below.

1. Fernanda é ______ Nova Iorque. João é ______ São Francisco.
2. Luciano é ______ Rio de Janeiro.
3. Fabiana está ______ Rio de Janeiro. Helena está ______ Curitiba.
4. Cristina é ______ Alemanha. A Alemanha é ______ Europa.
5. Antônio é ______ Portugal, mas ele mora ______ Brasil.

I hope this helps!
Obrigada 🙂

Quiz answers:

1. de, de; 2. do; 3. no, em; 4. da, na; 5. de, no

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