When to use it
Use it to say where someone works. In Brazil you will also hear "ele trabalha num hospital", with "em" and "um" joined.
“He works at a hospital.” — The sentence in English
"He works at a hospital" is a simple present sentence. "Works" has an -s because the subject is "he", third person singular. "At" is the usual preposition for a place of work, and "a hospital" uses the indefinite article.
- He
- pronounpersonal pronoun, third person singular
- works
- verbwork · tense: present · person: third · number: singular · the -s marks the third person singular
- at
- prepositionpreposition of place
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- hospital
- nounnoun
“Ele trabalha em um hospital.” — The sentence in Portuguese
"Ele trabalha em um hospital" uses "trabalha", the present of "trabalhar" for "ele". "Em" is the preposition of place and "um" is the masculine indefinite article, because "hospital" is masculine.
- Ele
- pronounpersonal pronoun: "he"
- trabalha
- verbtrabalhar · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: third · number: singular · "works"
- em
- prepositionpreposition: "in", "at"
- um
- determinerindefinite article, masculine: "a"
- hospital
- nounmasculine noun: "hospital"
English × Portuguese: What changes from one language to the other
English marks the third person with -s; Portuguese changes the whole ending of the verb for each person. English chooses "at" for a workplace, while Portuguese uses "em" for both "in" and "at". In speech, "em um" often becomes "num".
Example conversation
— O que o seu irmão faz?
— What does your brother do?
— Ele trabalha em um hospital.
— He works at a hospital.