Eu vou descansar hoje à tarde.

I will rest this afternoon.

Breakdown of Eu vou descansar hoje à tarde.

• eu: I
• ir: to go
• descansar: to rest
• hoje à tarde: this afternoon

Questions & Answers about Eu vou descansar hoje à tarde.

Why does the sentence use vou descansar instead of a simple infinitive like descansar?

Portuguese often uses the “going to” future (ir + infinitive) to talk about planned actions. Here vou is the present tense of ir (to go), and descansar is the infinitive (to rest). So vou descansar literally means “I’m going to rest,” which is equivalent to the English “I will rest” or “I’m going to rest.” Using just descansar by itself would be unusual as a standalone sentence in this context.

How do you form the “going to” future in Portuguese?

You simply conjugate ir in the present and follow it with an infinitive verb. For example:

• eu vou falar
• tu vais comer
• ele/ela vai estudar
• nós vamos viajar
• vocês vão trabalhar

In our sentence, vou (I go) + descansar (to rest) = “I’m going to rest.”

Why is there a grave accent in à tarde?

In Portuguese, à (with a grave accent) is the contraction of the preposition a (to/at) + the definite article a (the, feminine). So à tarde literally means “at the afternoon” or more naturally “in the afternoon.” Without the article you’d just have a tarde (“to the afternoon”), which doesn’t work here.

Can I say hoje a tarde without the accent?

No. You need the accent to show the contraction of a + a. Writing hoje a tarde would read as two separate words and be grammatically incorrect. Always use hoje à tarde for “this afternoon.”

Why use a preposition before tarde at all? In English we say “this afternoon” without one.

Portuguese normally requires a preposition + article when speaking of parts of the day. Common patterns:

• de manhã (“in the morning”) – no article, so simple de
• à tarde (“in the afternoon”) – a
  • a = à
• à noite (“at night”) – a
  • a = à

So for “afternoon” you need à tarde rather than just tarde.

What’s the difference between hoje à tarde and hoje de tarde?

In Brazilian Portuguese, hoje à tarde is the standard. Hoje de tarde is more typical in European Portuguese and can sound odd in Brazil. If you’re learning Brazilian usage, stick with hoje à tarde.

Could I replace descansar with relaxar in this sentence?

Yes and no. Relaxar is understood in Brazilian Portuguese (a loan from English) and means “to relax.” However, descansar is more idiomatic for “to rest” or “to take a break.” If you say vou relaxar hoje à tarde, people will get it, but vou descansar hoje à tarde is more natural.

Is it possible to express the same idea in another way?

Absolutely. A few alternatives:

• Hoje à tarde, vou me descansar. (Add reflexive pronoun for emphasis, though less common.)
• Hoje à tarde vou tirar um descanso. (“I’m going to take a rest this afternoon.”)
• Vou ficar descansando hoje à tarde. (“I’m going to be resting this afternoon,” using the gerund.)