Portuguese adverbs of position

By James Hall / / (3) Intermediate Portuguese
Portuguese adverbs (of position)

When you want to describe position and place you always be pulling from a group of words officially called Portuguese adverbs of position. And you can become a master of these words without so much as know how to spell the word "adverb". Let's observe make it happen by following Principle #1:

Any fact becomes important when it's connected to another. » Qualquer data torna-se importante se estiver conectada a outra. -- Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum1851

*Just posting this makes me feel pretty sharp.

Here's my top 7 list.

dentro (inside)
fora (outside)
em cima (above)
embaixo (below)
em frente (in front)
atrás (behind)
ao lado (to the side)

Notice that all of these work better with an "of" after them. In English we would say She's inside of the store. But we also say She's inside the store, leaving off the of. In Portuguese you need to always (always) include the of which is of course, de.

Do not forget the de.

dentro de
fora de
em cima de
embaixo de
em frente de
atrás de
ao lado de

In most cases, the de is followed by an article (the) or an "a", and this makes things trickier. Remember that a de and an o gets merged or, contracted like this:
de + o = do
and,
de + a = da

So saying for example, that She's inside the store (a loja), it becomes:

Ela está dentro da loja.

Let's do some more:

Eu tenho mais dinheiro dentro da minha bolsa.
Estou dentro do shopping.
Eu vou estudar fora do país.
Eu me senti fora de mim.
Seu telefone está em cima da mesa.
O gato está embaixo da mesa.
Eu vou encontrar você na frente do bar.
Ela está atrás do carro.
O restaurante fica ao lado do cinema.

More examples of Portuguese adverbs of position & place.

From the INTENSIVO