- 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.
- Fernanda é ______ Nova Iorque. João é ______ São Francisco.
- Luciano é ______ Rio de Janeiro.
- Fabiana está ______ Rio de Janeiro. Helena está ______ Curitiba.
- Cristina é ______ Alemanha. A Alemanha é ______ Europa.
- 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
Street Smart Brazil offers one-on-one and group Portuguese lessons via webcam. Our tutors are native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and we offer exclusive class materials and complete programs from absolute beginner to fluent. See what our customers are saying.

Hello Luciana Lage
i am learning portuguese by online since 2 months..But i could not understand prepositions until i found your website.Really you explained very clear very simple…THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
What a wonderful comment to read! Thank YOU for being here and leaving such a generous comment ♥
I also show how the preposition DE works in the following lessons:
1) Verb Gostar https://streetsmartbrazil.com/verb-gostar-in-portuguese/
2) Demonstrative Pronouns https://streetsmartbrazil.com/difference-este-esse-isso-portuguese/
muito obrigado amiga
Hello Luciana
I am thrilled to having discovered your free lessons on Youtube. Congratulations and well done with Street Smart Brazil. I have two questions to ask with regards to the subject above, as i didn’t see the 27th Brazilian state which is missing. I am not criticizing, it probably slipped by you, or is Distrito Federal not considered a Brazilian state anymore. You probably would know more than me. I know it is a very small state. 1. Nonetheless it would carry a masculine article? Like this ……. o Distrito Federal. Then my second question, i know that you spoke about various states that are exception to the rule, but there are three states that end in a letter "a" . They are Rodonia, Roraima and Santa Catarina. Why don’t they have a femine article?
I know this blog post is more than two years old, if you could help me with this query. Then nothing to do with this subject above, i have always had difficulty in understanding the pronounciation of the letter R in Brazilian Portuguese as especially i always hear the letter R pronunced Silent or almost as if it is said "eu" when said Rio. Sometimes it is almost said Hio. I hope you undesrtand what i mean, as a English speaker we pronounce the letter R, when saying Rio, we say Rio emphasizing the letter R but native Brazilian speakers, say Rio differently. I’m i correct or incorrect? I have often laughed with my Brazilian cousins but not to make fun of them. I would like your opinion please about the pronounciation of the letter R.
Thank you and keep up the smart work with your school.
Regards Giovanni