Contractions in Portuguese occur when two words are combined into one, typically by dropping one or more letters and replacing them with an apostrophe. These contractions often involve prepositions and articles or prepositions and pronouns.
Here are some common contractions in Portuguese:
Contractions with “em”:
Em = in, on, at
O, a, os, as = the
- Em + o = no
- Em + a = na
- Em + os = nos
- Em + as = nas
Contractions with “de”:
De = from, of
O, a, os, as = the
- De + o = do
- De + a = da
- De + os = dos
- De + as = das
Let’s practice contractions in Portuguese:
Eu sou dos (de + os) Estados Unidos (I am from the United States)
Eu estou nos (em + os) Estados Unidos (I am in the United States)
