DRAC'S FORUM

This is something very fundamental that can easily confuse. Portuguese uses several contractions which I will attempt to explain.

As you may remember, prepositions link words to other words: on, in, for, of, from, etc. You can get a general translation of them, but the difficult thing is that portuguese doesn't always use the same prepositions. For example

com = with
sonhar com = dream about

With this in mind here is a very generalized translation:

em = in, on
de = of, from
com = with
sem = without
sobre = about
a = to
por = for, through (think of it as the journey)
para = for, to, in order to (think of it as the destination)

You'll also remember what are articles: the, a/an, some.

the = o (masculino), a (feminina)
a/an = um (masculino), uma (feminina)

So now to the contractions (I think that's how you call them). What I'm talking about is this:

The pen is on the table.
A caneta está na mesa.

A caneta is straightforward, The pen. Está comes from the verb Estar, and means is. Estar is used because we are talking about the physical location of the pen. Na is a contraction of the preposition em (on) and the article a. Mesa simply means table.

Here is a large list of contractions

EM (ON, IN)
-------
em + o,os = no, nos
em + a ,as = na, nas
em + um, uma = num, numa
em + esse/este/aquele = nesse, neste, naquele, feminine versions too (nessa, nesta, naquela)
em + isso/isto/aquilo = nisso, nisto, naquilo

DE (OF, FROM)
-------
de + o,os = do, dos
de + a, as = da, das
de + um, uma = dum, duma
de + esse/este/aquele = desse, deste, daquele
de + isso/isto/aquilo = disso, disto, daquilo

POR (FOR, THROUGH)
-------
por + o,os = pelo, pelos
por + a,as  = pela, pelas

**PARA (FOR, TO) **these contractions are grammatically incorrect, but very common
-------
para + o,os = pro, pros
para + a,as = pra, pras

A (TO)
-------
a + o,os = ao, aos
a + a,as = à, às (note the special accent)

Now for some examples:

Pelo amor de deus!
For the love of god!

Joelho na barriga
Knee on (the) belly

Moro nos Estados Unidos
I live in the United States

Um dia desses.
One of these days. (or 'One day...')

I hope I didn't forget much!