What are common mistakes with Preposições e contrações?

Forgetting mandatory contractions (em o* → no). Using 'de' for 'in' (moro de Lisboa* → moro em Lisboa). Not distinguishing a/para. 🇬🇧 English speakers: English prepositions don't contract with articles. Must memorize all Portuguese contractions — they are MANDATORY. 🇷🇺 Russian speakers: No articles in Russian — contractions are completely new. Focus on learning de+o=do, em+a=na patterns. 🇨🇿 Czech speakers: No articles — same challenge. But Czech preposition+pronoun (se mnou = comigo) is a good parallel. 🇩🇪 German speakers: German has similar contractions (im=in+dem, zum=zu+dem). Good transfer! Portuguese has more of them.

Preposições e contrações | Portuguese Grammar A1

Preposições e contrações

A1 — Gramática básica

Common prepositions (de, em, a, para, com, por) and their contractions

Can use common prepositions with correct contractions and choose between a/para, de/em

Common prepositions (de, em, a, para, com, por) and their contractions

Examples

Eu moro no Rio de Janeiro. — I live in Rio de Janeiro.
Você vai comigo? — Are you coming with me?
Passamos pela praia todos os dias. — We pass by the beach every day.

Gramática básicaA1

Prepositions & Contractions

Common prepositions and their mandatory contractions

Learning Goal

Can use prepositions with correct contractions

Exam Skills:VISC-A1

Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?

Eu moro no Rio de Janeiro.

I live in Rio de Janeiro.

Você vai comigo?

Are you coming with me?

Passamos pela praia todos os dias.

We pass by the beach every day.

Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?

As preposições mais comuns e suas contrações obrigatórias com artigos e pronomes.

Preposição	Uso principal	Contrações
de	of, from, about	do/da/dos/das, deste/desta, dele/dela, daquele
em	in, on, at	no/na/nos/nas, neste/nesta, nele/nela, naquele
a	to, at	ao/à/aos/às, àquele/àquela
para	to, for (destination/purpose)	pra (informal BP)
com	with	comigo, contigo, conosco, convosco
por	by, through, for (reason)	pelo/pela/pelos/pelas

De vs em para lugar:

Sou de Lisboa (origin)
Moro em Lisboa (live in)
Vou a Lisboa (going to, short)
Vou para Lisboa (going to, permanent)

Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises

Practice Exercises

Forgetting mandatory contractions (em o* → no). Using 'de' for 'in' (moro de Lisboa* → moro em Lisboa). Not distinguishing a/para. 🇬🇧 English speakers: English prepositions don't contract with articles. Must memorize all Portuguese contractions — they are MANDATORY.

Eu moro no Rio de Janeiro.

I live in Rio de Janeiro.

No = em + o (mandatory contraction). Rio is masculine → o Rio → no Rio.

Você vai comigo?

Are you coming with me?

Comigo = com + mim (special fusion). Also: contigo (with you/tu), conosco (with us).

Passamos pela praia todos os dias.

We pass by the beach every day.

Pela = por + a (contraction). Praia is feminine → a praia → pela praia.

Practice in course

Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises

A1 Course

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Put it into practice

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Frequently asked questions

When is Preposições e contrações used?: As preposições mais comuns e suas contrações obrigatórias com artigos e pronomes.
What are common mistakes with Preposições e contrações?: Forgetting mandatory contractions (em o* → no). Using 'de' for 'in' (moro de Lisboa* → moro em Lisboa). Not distinguishing a/para. 🇬🇧 English speakers: English prepositions don't contract with articles. Must memorize all Portuguese contractions — they are MANDATORY. 🇷🇺 Russian speakers: No articles in Russian — contractions are completely new. Focus on learning de+o=do, em+a=na patterns. 🇨🇿 Czech speakers: No articles — same challenge. But Czech preposition+pronoun (se mnou = comigo) is a good parallel. 🇩🇪 German speakers: German has similar contractions (im=in+dem, zum=zu+dem). Good transfer! Portuguese has more of them.