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P o r t u g u e s e O n l i n e

>>Prepositions > Prepositional Contractions

Many of the most basic prepositions combine with articles and other words to form a single contracted word. In another section, you can see that com with contracts with the set of prepositional pronouns. The contractions in this section are even more common than those.

This table shows how the prepositions contract with definite and indefinite articles.

Preposition With um/uma With uns/umas With o/a With os/as
a to, at (a um), (a uma) (a uns), (a umas) ao, à aos, às
de of, from dum, duma duns, dumas do, da dos, das
em in, on num, numa nuns, numas no, na nos, nas
por for pelum, peluma peluns, pelumas pelo, pela pelos, pelas
para for prum, pruma pruns, prumas prò, prà pròs, pràs

All of the bracketed forms are completely regular (they do not contract). The preposition em also allows the regular forms em um, em uma, em uns, and em umas. The non-contracted forms of para are heavily favored here: para um, para uma, para uns, para umas, para o, para a, para os, para as.

These prepositions can combine with a number of other basic words, such as aqui here, aí right there, ali there, and all forms of the demonstrative adjectives and pronouns (isto this, isso that, aquilo that (over there), and the corresponding adjectives). This is particularly true of the words a and de. The contracted forms always leave off the final e of de: daqui, dali, disto, disso, daquilo, etc. The contractions with a are less common and always optional, but can occur when the following word begins in a-. These contractions are always written as à- (for example, àquilo to that over there).