"We arrived at the top yesterday."
Translation:Nós chegamos no topo ontem.
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Not exactly. "Em cima" means simply "on". "No topo" means something higher, which takes some effort to get there. "Estamos no topo da árvore/montanha" (we are at the top of the tree/mountain). Or something thats higher than the speaker: os melhores abacates ficam no topo = The best avocados are on the top.
Great explanation, obrigado!
I have one more question about em/ em cima: If we wanted to say "The cat is on the box," could we say "O gato está na caixa"? Or would that only mean "in" the box?
If we say "na caixa" we understand that itn is inside the box. For "on the box" use "em cima da caixa"
No. If it was "we arrived at the top of the tree yesterday" ok. But just "at the top yesterday", in portuguese don't make sense.
I see... well, for me it does make sense: "vocês já escalaram esta montanha?" / "chegamos no topo ontem!"
Good point, but is still confusing to me learning this way. Half sentences, if you know what i mean.
I see that 'em cima' wouldn't work, but 'na cima'? Wordreference (http://www.wordreference.com/pten/cima) lists the noun as 'top, summit'. So, 'Chegamos na cima ontem' should work, or am I missing something?
We don't have "na cima" in Brazil, only "em cima". When you have "on the top" as in 'to reach the top', translate it as "topo".
In that case, thanks and sorry for making you repeat yourself. I've sent a note to Wordreference asking them to check and specify that 'cima' is (perhaps?) European, and 'topo' is Brazilian, so you won't get anymore confused gringos asking about that. = )