Master Portuguese Prepositions and Contractions: do, na, pelo, ao in 44 Flashcards

Portuguese glues its small words together. Where English says "in the house", Portuguese says na casa — em + a fused into one syllable. You cannot read a single paragraph without meeting do, na, pelo or ao, so this is one of the highest-return grammar topics for any beginner. The Flip It deck Portuguese Prepositions & Contractions (code PF5226, 44 cards) packs the whole system into a single session.

What the 44 cards cover

• 12 core prepositions: a, até, com, de, desde, em, entre, por, para, sem, sobre, sob
• 16 article contractions (four prepositions × o/a/os/as): do, da, dos, das · no, na, nos, nas · pelo, pela, pelos, pelas · ao, à, aos, às
• Indefinite and demonstrative fusions: dum, num, deste, nesse, àquela
• Spoken Brazilian shortcuts: pra, pro, pras, pros
• Compound prepositions: a partir de, através de, debaixo de, dentro de, em cima de, acerca de, junto com

Sample cards

Learn the grid, not 16 separate cards

Cards 13–28 are really one 4 × 4 table. Learn the stems first — d- (de), n- (em), pel- (por), a- (a) — then just add the article: -o, -a, -os, -as. Two irregularities break the pattern: por becomes pel-, and em loses its vowel entirely. Once those two are fixed, 16 cards collapse into one rule, and the same stems carry over to deste, nesse and num.

The grave accent is the other trap. à and às (the crase) only appear when a (to) meets the feminine article a: Vou à praia (I'm going to the beach), but Vou ao mercado. The test: swap in a masculine noun — if you'd say ao, the feminine needs à. Card 37 (àquela) shows the same accent on demonstratives: àquele, àquilo.

Two fixes worth making

1. Cards 29–32 run the other way. Every contraction card shows the parts and asks for the fused form, but pra/pro/pras/pros show the fused form and ask for the parts. Flip them so you produce pro from para o, and tag them "spoken BR" — in writing, keep para o. Likewise, dum is informal; standard written Portuguese prefers de um, while num is common in both varieties.
2. Pronoun contractions are missing. Write four extra cards: de + ele = dele (his), de + ela = dela (hers), em + ele = nele, de + isso = disso. Dele and dela replace seu/sua whenever "his" or "her" would be ambiguous — you'll hear them constantly in Brazil.

Finally, por vs para gets one card each here. Add example sentences to the hints: para = destination, purpose, recipient (um presente para você); por = route, cause, exchange, duration (obrigado por tudo, passei pela praça).

Keep going

Contractions and verbs go hand in hand — pair this deck with Portuguese Irregular Verbs: ter, ser, estar, haver and fazer, and see where pra and num sit regionally in Brazilian vs European Portuguese.

Open Flip It, search for PF5226 and drill the grid until pelas and àquela come out without thinking.