Crase: à
Crase: à means “When the preposition a meets the feminine article a, they merge and take a grave accent”. Crase is simply the contraction rule applied to a + a, and the grave accent is what marks it. Formation: a (preposição) + a (artigo) = à — vou à praia · vou ao banco · vou a Salvador
When the preposition a meets the feminine article a, they merge and take a grave accent
B1Formation
a (preposição) + a (artigo) = à — vou à praia · vou ao banco · vou a Salvador
Explanation
Crase is simply the contraction rule applied to a + a, and the grave accent is what marks it. The trick that native speakers themselves use is a substitution test: replace the feminine noun with a masculine one. If ao appears, then the original needed à. Vou à praia becomes vou ao mercado, so à is right. Vou a Salvador becomes vou a Recife, no ao, so no crase — city names that take no article take no crase either. There is no crase before masculine words, before verbs, before most pronouns, or before plural nouns preceded by singular a. Be reassured that Brazilian native speakers get this wrong regularly; it is a genuine difficulty of the written language, not something learners are uniquely bad at.
Examples
Note
The substitution test in one line: if the masculine version takes ao, the feminine takes à.
FAQ
Crase: à — what does it mean and how is it used?
When the preposition a meets the feminine article a, they merge and take a grave accent. Crase is simply the contraction rule applied to a + a, and the grave accent is what marks it. The trick that native speakers themselves use is a substitution test: replace the feminine noun with a masculine one. If ao appears, then the original needed à. Vou à praia becomes vou ao mercado, so à is right. Vou a Salvador becomes vou a Recife, no ao, so no crase — city names that take no article take no crase either. There is no crase before masculine words, before verbs, before most pronouns, or before plural nouns preceded by singular a. Be reassured that Brazilian native speakers get this wrong regularly; it is a genuine difficulty of the written language, not something learners are uniquely bad at.
Crase: à — how do you form it?
a (preposição) + a (artigo) = à — vou à praia · vou ao banco · vou a Salvador
Crase: à — any usage notes?
The substitution test in one line: if the masculine version takes ao, the feminine takes à.