Meu pai não gosta quando eu chego tarde da escola.

My father doesn’t like it when I arrive late from school.

Breakdown of Meu pai não gosta quando eu chego tarde da escola.

• eu: I
• não: not
• meu: my
• quando: when
• chegar: to arrive
• tarde: late
• a escola: the school
• o pai: the father
• gostar: to like
• da: from the

Questions & Answers about Meu pai não gosta quando eu chego tarde da escola.

1) Why is it meu pai and not minha pai?

In Portuguese, the possessive agrees with the gender of the noun, not with the gender of the speaker.

• pai (father) is masculine → meu pai
• mãe (mother) is feminine → minha mãe

So you always say:

• meu pai = my father
• minha mãe = my mother

It does not change based on whether you are male or female; it changes based on the noun (pai or mãe).

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2) Why is it gosta and not gosto?

Because the subject of gostar is meu pai, not eu.

• Verb: gostar (to like)
• Subject: meu pai = he (3rd person singular)

So you conjugate:

• Eu gosto (I like)
• Ele / ela gosta (he / she likes)
• Meu pai não gosta (My father doesn’t like)

In the same sentence, eu is the subject of the second verb:

• eu chego (I arrive)

So:

• Meu pai não gosta (he doesn’t like)
• quando eu chego (when I arrive)

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3) Why is there no de after gosta? I thought it was gostar de.

You’re right that the basic pattern is gostar de:

• Eu gosto de chocolate. (I like chocolate.)
• Ela gosta de viajar. (She likes to travel.)

But when gostar is followed by a clause with a conjunction (like quando, que, etc.), Brazilian Portuguese normally drops de:

• Meu pai não gosta quando eu chego tarde.
  (literally: My father doesn’t like when I arrive late.)
• Ela não gosta que eu fale alto.
  (She doesn’t like it when I speak loudly.)

So:

• gostar de
  • noun / infinitive → gosta de chocolate, gosta de estudar
• gostar
  • clause (quando, que, etc.) → gosta quando…, gosta que…

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4) In English we say “doesn’t like it when…”. Where is the “it” in Portuguese?

Portuguese simply doesn’t need that “it”. The structure is:

• [subject] + não gosta + quando + [clause]

So:

• Meu pai não gosta quando eu chego tarde da escola.
  literally: My father doesn’t like when I arrive late from school.

That feels complete in Portuguese; there is no pronoun equivalent to the English “it” here.

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5) What does tarde mean here? Is it “late” or “afternoon”?

tarde can mean both, depending on context:

1. The afternoon – a time of day

   • À tarde eu estudo. (In the afternoon I study.)

2. Late – not on time / later than expected

   • Eu cheguei tarde. (I arrived late.)

In “quando eu chego tarde da escola”, it means late, not “in the afternoon”. It’s saying your father doesn’t like it when you get home later than you should from school.

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6) What does da mean in tarde da escola?

da is a contraction of the preposition de + the feminine article a:

• de (from, of) + a (the, feminine singular) → da

So:

• da escola = de + a escola = from the school

In this sentence:

• chego tarde da escola ≈ “I arrive late from school” (i.e., I get home late after leaving school).

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7) What’s the difference between chegar tarde da escola and chegar tarde na escola?

They talk about different places:

1. chegar tarde da escola

   • literally: arrive late from school
   • Focus is on the place you are going to (usually home), and the origin is school.
   • Implied meaning: My dad doesn’t like it when I get home late from school.

2. chegar tarde na escola

   • literally: arrive late at school
   • You arrive late to school itself (e.g., to classes in the morning).

So:

• da escola = from school (leaving school)
• na escola = at school (arriving there)

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8) Can I drop eu and just say “quando chego tarde da escola”?

Yes, you can. Subject pronouns are often omitted in Portuguese when the verb ending already shows who the subject is:

• quando eu chego tarde da escola
• quando chego tarde da escola

Both are correct. Eu is optional here because chego clearly marks the first person singular.

Including eu can sound a bit more explicit or contrastive, for example if you want to stress I:

• Meu pai não liga quando meus irmãos chegam tarde, mas não gosta quando eu chego tarde.

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9) Why is não placed before gosta? Can it go at the end of the sentence?

In Portuguese, não normally goes right before the verb it negates:

• Meu pai não gosta… (My father doesn’t like…)
• Eu não chego tarde. (I don’t arrive late.)

You can’t move não to the end of the sentence the way Spanish sometimes does in some dialects.
So:

• ✅ Meu pai não gosta quando eu chego tarde da escola.
• ❌ Meu pai gosta quando eu chego tarde da escola não. (incorrect in standard Portuguese)

The basic pattern is: [subject] + não + [verb] + …