Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Meu irmão prefere a camiseta verde que ganhou de presente. - My brother prefers the green T‑shirt he got as a gift.

Preferir is the direct verb to prefer, more formal/neutral and often used in writing or careful speech.
- Meu irmão prefere a camiseta verde... = My brother prefers the green T‑shirt...
Gostar mais de is more colloquial and literally means to like more.
- Meu irmão gosta mais da camiseta verde... is also correct and very common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese.

So prefere is just the straightforward present tense of preferir; gosta mais de is a slightly more casual alternative.

Why is there an article a before camiseta? Could you just say prefere camiseta verde?

In Brazilian Portuguese, you normally use a definite article (like o, a, os, as) before a specific item, including clothing:

a camiseta verde = the green T‑shirt (a particular one everyone knows about).

Saying prefere camiseta verde (without a) is not wrong in all contexts, but it sounds incomplete or telegraphic in standard speech. It might appear in lists, headlines, or very informal fragments, but in a normal sentence, a camiseta verde is what you’d expect.

What’s the difference between camiseta and camisa?

Camiseta usually means a T‑shirt: short sleeves, knit fabric, casual.
Camisa is a more general shirt, but in Brazil it often suggests a collared, button‑up shirt.

So:

camiseta verde → a green T‑shirt.
camisa verde → a green shirt, probably a collared one, unless the context says otherwise.

Why does verde come after camiseta? Can I say a verde camiseta?

In Portuguese, most adjectives normally come after the noun:

a camiseta verde = the green T‑shirt.

Saying a verde camiseta is technically understandable but sounds very poetic, old‑fashioned, or stylized, not like everyday speech. So in standard modern Brazilian Portuguese, keep verde after camiseta.

What exactly does que refer to in a camiseta verde que ganhou de presente?

Here que is a relative pronoun referring to a camiseta verde. The structure is:

a camiseta verde que ganhou de presente
= the green T‑shirt that (he) got as a present.

So que = that/which, and it introduces the relative clause ganhou de presente, which gives extra information about a camiseta verde.

Why is it que ganhou and not que ele ganhou? Where is the he?

Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

(Ele) ganhou = he got / he received.

In que ganhou de presente, the subject of ganhou is understood from context: it’s the same person as meu irmão. You could say que ele ganhou de presente for emphasis or clarity, but it’s not necessary, and the shorter version is very natural.

What does de presente literally mean, and why is de used?

De presente literally is something like “as a present / in the form of a present”.

ganhou de presente = got/received as a gift.

The preposition de is often used in Portuguese to indicate source, cause, or type, and here it marks the way in which he got it: in the capacity of a gift. Other common patterns:

ganhar de aniversário = get for (your) birthday.
ganhar de Natal = get for Christmas.

Could I replace que with a qual in this sentence?

Grammatically, you could say:

Meu irmão prefere a camiseta verde, a qual ganhou de presente.

However, in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, que is by far the most natural and common relative pronoun here. A qual sounds more formal, written, or sometimes slightly stiff. For fluent, natural speech, stick to que.

Why is it meu irmão and not o meu irmão? I’ve seen both.

In Brazilian Portuguese:

meu irmão (without an article) is the most common in everyday speech.
o meu irmão is also correct but tends to sound more formal or emphatic in Brazil.

In European Portuguese, o meu irmão is more standard. For Brazilian usage like your sentence, Meu irmão prefere... is perfectly natural.

How would the sentence change in the plural, like “my brothers prefer the green T‑shirt that they got as a present”?

You need to pluralize the possessive, the noun, and the verb:

Meus irmãos preferem a camiseta verde que ganharam de presente.

Changes:

meu irmão → meus irmãos (my brother → my brothers)
prefere → preferem (3rd person singular → plural)
ganhou → ganharam (he got → they got)

Camiseta stays singular if they all prefer the same one T‑shirt.

Why is prefere in the present tense but ganhou is in the past?

The sentence mixes tenses because it describes:

a current, ongoing preference → prefere (present)
a completed past event (when he received the T‑shirt) → ganhou (simple past / preterite).

So the idea is: Right now, he prefers the green T‑shirt that he got (at some point in the past) as a present. This tense combination is very normal.

Is the word order que ganhou de presente fixed, or can I move de presente?

The most natural order is exactly what you see:

que ganhou de presente.

You could technically say things like que de presente ganhou, but in modern Brazilian Portuguese that sounds odd or overly poetic. In normal speech and writing, que ganhou de presente is the pattern you should use.

How do you pronounce irmão and presente? Anything tricky for English speakers?

Key points:

irmão:
- The ão is a nasal sound, roughly like “ow” in “cow” but with air flowing through the nose.
- The r in ir- is often a guttural sound in Brazilian Portuguese (similar to the French r), depending on the region.
presente:
- The e in the last syllable -te is pronounced like the e in “get”, not silent.
- Stress is on -zen-: pre-ZEN-te.

So approximately: [eeʁ-MOWN] for irmão (very rough) and [pre-ZEN-che] or [pre-ZEN-te] depending on accent.