When is article required

Sometimes I am surprised to find that no article is used in Portuguese, whereas it is in English. For example, why does “ O quarto dela não tem janela” not include the indefinite article?

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@pvreed, it’s normal for English and Portuguese not to be always aligned, because the languages work differently. It happens with articles and also happens a lot with prepositions, among others.

Indefinite articles are often omitted when we are describing jobs or roles, for example:

  • Ela é médica. (She is a doctor)
  • Ele é pai. (He is a father)

They’re also usually omitted in cases where we’re making general references to people or things (as is the case in your example):

  • Tens carro? (Do you have a car?)
  • A sala tem varanda. (The living room has a balcony)
  • Tu tens namorada. (You have a girlfriend)
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