Breakdown of Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje.
Questions & Answers about Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje.
In Portuguese, certain verbs are followed directly by another verb in the infinitive, without any preposition.
Querer (to want) is one of those verbs.
So the pattern is:
- Eu quero usar = I want to use / wear
- Eu quero comer = I want to eat
- Eu quero dormir = I want to sleep
You do not add de or para between quero and usar here.
Eu quero de usar or Eu quero para usar is incorrect in this meaning.
Quero is the present indicative of the verb querer (to want), first person singular.
Present indicative of querer:
- eu quero – I want
- você / ele / ela quer – you / he / she wants
- nós queremos – we want
- vocês / eles / elas querem – you (pl.) / they want
So Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje literally is I want to use/wear the green T‑shirt today.
Yes. In Portuguese you can normally drop the subject pronoun if the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje.
- Quero usar a camiseta verde hoje.
Both are correct and mean the same thing.
Using Eu can add a bit of emphasis on I in some contexts, but grammatically both are fine and very common.
Portuguese nouns have grammatical gender: masculine or feminine.
Camiseta is a feminine noun, so it uses the feminine article a:
- a camiseta – the T‑shirt
- uma camiseta – a T‑shirt
Masculine nouns use o / um:
- o casaco – the coat
- um casaco – a coat
The -a ending often (not always) marks feminine nouns, and camiseta follows that pattern.
Roughly:
- camiseta – T‑shirt (usually with short sleeves, casual, knit fabric)
- Ex: camiseta de time = team jersey
- camisa – shirt (often a more structured shirt, usually with a collar and buttons)
- Ex: camisa social = dress shirt
- blusa – can be a blouse (for women), or just a top; in some regions it can also mean a light sweater or pullover
In your sentence, camiseta is the natural word for a regular T‑shirt.
In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun:
- camiseta verde – green T‑shirt
- carro novo – new car
- livro interessante – interesting book
Some adjectives can be placed before the noun for stylistic or meaning changes, but the neutral, default position is noun + adjective.
So camiseta verde is the standard order.
No. The adjective verde (green) has one form for masculine and feminine in the singular:
- camiseta verde – green T‑shirt (feminine)
- casaco verde – green coat (masculine)
In the plural, it becomes verdes:
- camisetas verdes – green T‑shirts
- casacos verdes – green coats
So verde does agree in number (verde → verdes), but not in gender.
In everyday Portuguese, clothing almost always takes an article (definite or indefinite):
- Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje. – I want to wear the green T‑shirt today.
- Eu quero usar uma camiseta verde hoje. – I want to wear a green T‑shirt today.
Saying Eu quero usar camiseta verde hoje sounds incomplete or unnatural in most contexts; it feels like you accidentally omitted the article.
You normally keep an article unless you are using a possessive like minha, sua, etc. (see next question).
Yes:
- Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje. – I want to wear the green T‑shirt today.
- Eu quero usar minha camiseta verde hoje. – I want to wear my green T‑shirt today.
In Brazilian Portuguese, with possessives referring to body parts or clothes, you often see article + possessive + noun, but with clothes it’s very common to drop the article:
- Eu quero usar a minha camiseta verde hoje. – also correct
- Eu quero usar minha camiseta verde hoje. – also correct, maybe a bit more informal/natural in many regions
All of these are acceptable.
Both relate to clothing, but:
- usar = to use / to wear (in the sense of having something on)
- Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje. – I want to wear the green T‑shirt today.
- vestir = to put on clothing, or to dress (someone or yourself)
- Eu quero vestir a camiseta verde. – I want to put the green T‑shirt on.
In everyday conversation, Brazilians very often use usar, botar, or colocar for clothes:
- Vou usar aquela camiseta. – I’m going to wear that T‑shirt.
- Vou colocar aquela camiseta. – I’m going to put that T‑shirt on.
So your sentence with usar is completely natural.
You can move hoje without changing the meaning:
- Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje.
- Hoje eu quero usar a camiseta verde.
- Eu hoje quero usar a camiseta verde. (less common but possible)
The most usual are:
- Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje.
- Hoje eu quero usar a camiseta verde.
Time words like hoje, amanhã, depois, etc. are quite flexible in position.
Grammatically, quero is present tense, but in Portuguese the present is often used for near-future plans or intentions, especially with a time word like hoje.
Eu quero usar a camiseta verde hoje can mean:
- I (now) have the intention of wearing the green T‑shirt (sometime) today.
If you want to emphasize a future plan, you might also hear:
- Vou usar a camiseta verde hoje. – I’m going to wear the green T‑shirt today.
But your original sentence already sounds natural as a plan for later today.
Approximate pronunciations (Brazilian):
- quero – KEH-roo
- que like keh in kettle, ro like English ro in robot, but shorter
- usar – oo-ZAR
- u like oo in boot, sar like zar with a tapped R at the end
- camiseta – kah-mee-ZEH-tah
- ca = kah, mi = mee, ze = zeh, ta = tah
Stress:
- QUER-o, u-ZAR, ca-mi-ZE-ta (the bold syllable is the stressed one).
Most of the time, yes, camiseta is a T‑shirt. It can also refer to:
- sports jerseys: camiseta do time, camiseta do Flamengo
- themed or printed T‑shirts: camiseta de banda, camiseta do filme
If you specifically mean a collared shirt, you would usually say camisa instead.