Crase (à, às, àquele)

What it is

The crase is the grave accent on à. It marks two a’s merged into one: the preposition a (to, at) and the feminine article a (the). Vou a + a praia → Vou à praia. In Brazil à sounds exactly like a, so crase is a spelling skill: you hear nothing, but you have to write it.

The same merger happens in the plural (a + as = às) and with the demonstratives that start with a: àquele, àquela, àquilo (a + aquele). The masculine forms need no accent because the merger is already visible: ao, aos.

How to form it

You need two things at once: a word that asks for the preposition a (ir a, chegar a, dar algo a alguém, clock times…) and a word that takes the feminine article a. If either one is missing, there is no crase.

The masculine-swap test

When in doubt, replace the feminine noun with a masculine one. If you get ao, write à; if you get plain a or o, write no accent.

Place names: the "volto da" test

With places, ask how you would say "I’m coming back from": volto da Bahia → vou à Bahia; volto de Brasília → vou a Brasília; volto do Rio → vou ao Rio. Most states and countries take an article, most cities don’t.

Try a few:

When to use it

• Clock times: às oito, às 18h, à uma, à meia-noite, but ao meio-dia (masculine). From… to…: das 8h às 18h (both with articles), but de segunda a sexta (no articles, no crase).
• Parts of the day: à tarde, à noite; but de manhã.
• Fixed expressions with a feminine noun: à direita, à esquerda, à vontade, à vista (paid in full, the opposite of a prazo), às vezes, à toa (for no reason, idly), às pressas, à beira-mar, and à moda de, often shortened on menus: filé à parmegiana, bife à milanesa.
• Destinations and people after verbs with a: Fui à farmácia. Entreguei a chave à vizinha. In speech Brazilians mostly say pra or na (vou pra praia, fui na farmácia), so crase lives mainly in writing.

Contrasts and traps

Never write crase:

• before masculine words: a pé, a cavalo, a prazo;
• before verbs: começou a chover, a partir de amanhã, voltei a estudar;
• before most pronouns: a você, a ela, a mim, a esta, a cada um (but à senhora, because senhora takes an article);
• before uma meaning "a/an": Fui a uma festa (but à uma, one o’clock);
• before a plural noun with no article: Não dou meu número a pessoas estranhas (but às pessoas da lista);
• in repetitions: cara a cara, gota a gota;
• with distance or time ahead: fica a cinco minutos daqui, daqui a duas semanas (not há, which means "ago");
• when there is no preposition at all: Conheço a Bahia (conhecer takes no a), against Vou à Bahia.

Crase is optional before possessives (à minha casa / a minha casa) and women’s first names (à Ana / a Ana), because the article is optional there. And mind the accent itself: crase is the grave accent, à. With an acute accent, á is not a word.

If you speak Spanish

Read à as Spanish a la, às as a las, ao as al and aos as a los: a la playa → à praia, a las ocho → às oito, al cine → ao cinema. Where Spanish has plain a (a pie, a usted, empezó a llover), Portuguese has no crase either. Watch the exceptions: a veces → às vezes, voy a Bahía → vou à Bahia, al contado → à vista, and never type the acute á.