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Questions & Answers about Eu tenho um amigo imaginário.
Why is the subject pronoun eu included in the sentence? Can it be omitted?
In Portuguese the subject pronoun is optional because the verb ending already tells you who’s speaking. Including eu adds emphasis or clarity. You can perfectly say Tenho um amigo imaginário without eu, and it still means I have an imaginary friend.
What does tenho mean and what tense is it?
Tenho is the first-person-singular present indicative form of the verb ter (to have). It literally means I have.
Why do we use the indefinite article um before amigo? Could we use uma or drop it entirely?
Um is the masculine singular indefinite article—used because amigo is masculine. If the friend were feminine, you’d say uma amiga. You could omit the article (Tenho amigo imaginário), but that sounds less natural in everyday speech.
Why is the adjective imaginário placed after the noun amigo instead of before it, like in English?
In Portuguese, adjectives normally follow the noun they modify, so amigo imaginário is the standard order. Putting the adjective before (imaginário amigo) can happen for poetic or stylistic reasons, but it’s not common in casual conversation.
Why is there an acute accent on the á in imaginário? What does it indicate?
The acute accent marks two things:
1) It shows which syllable is stressed (the ná syllable).
2) It indicates the vowel is open /a/ rather than the more closed /ɐ/ sound. Without the accent, you’d misplace the stress and possibly pronounce the vowel incorrectly.
How is the r in imaginário pronounced?
In Brazilian Portuguese, an r between vowels is usually a single tap [ɾ], similar to the American English tt in butter (in rapid speech). So imaginário sounds roughly like “ee-mah-zhee-NAH-ree-oh,” with a quick, tapped r in -ná-ri-o.
Does imaginário change if amigo is feminine or plural?
Yes. Portuguese adjectives agree in gender and number with their nouns. For a female friend you’d say amiga imaginária (both words ending in -a). For more than one friend, amigos imaginários (masculine plural) or amigas imaginárias (feminine plural).