Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Por favor, guarde o jornal na mesa, perto da parede branca. - Please put the newspaper away on the table, near the white wall.

guardar = infinitive (“to keep / to put away / to store”)
- e.g. Eu gosto de guardar jornais. – “I like to keep newspapers.”
guarda can be:
- present tense (he/she/you keep/puts away): Ele guarda o jornal. – “He keeps the newspaper.”
- or an informal spoken command in some areas: “Guarda o jornal!”

In standard, polite Brazilian Portuguese, when you’re telling você to do something, you normally use the subjunctive form as imperative:

Você: Guarde o jornal. – “(Please) put away the newspaper.”

So guarde here is a polite command to “you” (você).

Is guarde formal or informal? How polite does it sound?

Guarde is on the polite / neutral side.

Saying Guarde o jornal, por favor is similar in tone to “Please put the newspaper away” in English—polite and respectful, not overly formal.
In more informal speech, especially among friends, you’ll often hear:
- Guarda o jornal na mesa. (imperative based on the present indicative, common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese)

In very formal situations (talking to a stranger politely, customer, older person, boss, etc.), guarde works very well. Adding por favor makes it extra polite.

Why is there no word for “you” in the sentence? Who is guarde talking to?

Portuguese often drops the subject pronoun when it’s clear from the verb form.

The verb form guarde tells us the subject is você (you).
So the full idea is: (Você) guarde o jornal na mesa…

In English, you must say you, but in Portuguese it’s almost always omitted in commands:

(Você) abra a porta. – “Open the door.”
(Você) guarde o jornal. – “Put the newspaper away.”

What exactly does guardar mean here? Is it “keep,” “save,” or “put”?

Guardar in Brazilian Portuguese is quite flexible. It can mean:

To put away / to store (most common meaning here)
- Guarde o jornal na mesa. – Put the newspaper there (as its place for now).
To keep
- Guarde o troco. – Keep the change.
To save / to preserve
- Ela guarda todas as cartas antigas. – She keeps/saves all the old letters.

In this sentence, context tells us it’s “put (the newspaper) somewhere and leave it there / keep it there”, closer to “put away” or “set down and leave it” on the table.

Why is it o jornal and not just jornal? Do I always need the article?

In Portuguese, you usually use the definite article (o / a / os / as) much more than in English.

o jornal = the newspaper (a specific one already known in the context)
Simply saying jornal (without article) is less common and usually means the idea of “newspaper” in general, or appears in certain fixed expressions.

Compare:

Guarde o jornal. – Put the newspaper away (the one we both know about).
Jornal é importante para se informar. – Newspapers are important for getting informed.

In your sentence, the speaker is clearly referring to a specific newspaper, so o jornal is natural and expected.

What does na mean in na mesa?

Na is a contraction of the preposition em (“in / on / at”) + the feminine article a (“the”):

em + a = na → na mesa = em a mesa → “on/at the table”

Similarly:

no = em + o (masculine singular) → no carro – in the car
nos = em + os (masculine plural) → nos livros – in the books
nas = em + as (feminine plural) → nas mesas – on the tables

So na mesa means “on the table” or “at the table,” depending on context. Here it means the physical location: on the table.

Does na mesa mean “on the table” or “at the table”?

Na mesa can translate as either “on the table” or “at the table”, depending on context:

Physical placement: Coloque o livro na mesa. – Put the book on the table.
Location of a person or activity: Estamos na mesa. – We’re at the table.

In your sentence, because you’re telling someone where to put the newspaper, the natural translation is “on the table.”

What does perto da mean in perto da parede branca?

Perto means “near / close (by)” and is usually followed by de:

perto de = near

With a feminine singular noun (a parede), de + a contracts to da:

perto de + a parede → perto da parede

So:

perto da parede branca = “near the white wall”

Other examples:

perto do carro (de + o carro) – near the car
perto dos livros (de + os livros) – near the books
perto das janelas (de + as janelas) – near the windows

Why is it parede branca and not branca parede, since in English we say “white wall”?

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun:

parede branca – literally “wall white” → “white wall”
casa grande – big house
carro vermelho – red car

So:

a parede branca = the white wall

Adjectives can come before the noun, but that’s less common and can sound poetic, emphatic, or change the nuance. The neutral, standard way here is parede branca.

Why is parede feminine? How can I tell it’s feminine?

You see it’s feminine because of:

The article: a parede (feminine) versus o (masculine).
The adjective ending: branca, not branco.

General hints (not 100% rules):

Nouns ending in -a are often feminine, and their adjectives end in -a:
- a casa branca – the white house
- a parede branca – the white wall
Nouns ending in -o are often masculine, and adjectives end in -o:
- o carro branco – the white car

But gender is mostly grammatical convention; you just memorize each noun with its article:

a parede (f) – the wall
o jornal (m) – the newspaper

Is the comma before perto da parede branca necessary?

The comma in “na mesa, perto da parede branca” is optional and more about style and clarity than strict grammar.

Without comma: na mesa perto da parede branca – sounds like one long location phrase.
With comma: na mesa, perto da parede branca – separates the main place (“on the table”) from the extra detail (“near the white wall”).

Both are acceptable, but the comma often helps make the sentence easier to process.

Could I say ao lado da parede branca instead of perto da parede branca?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

perto da parede branca – near/close to the white wall (general proximity)
ao lado da parede branca – beside / next to the white wall (more specific, at its side)

So the instruction would become more precise:

Por favor, guarde o jornal na mesa, ao lado da parede branca.
– Please put the newspaper on the table, next to the white wall.

If I want to talk very casually to a friend, how might this sentence change?

In casual, spoken Brazilian Portuguese (depending on region), you might hear simpler or slightly different forms:

Guarda o jornal na mesa, perto da parede branca.
(using guarda instead of guarde as a command to você)

You might also drop parts if the context is clear:

Guarda o jornal ali na mesa. – Put the newspaper there on the table.
Bota o jornal na mesa, perto da parede. – Put the newspaper on the table, near the wall.

Por favor is still perfectly fine in casual speech, but might be dropped among close friends if the tone is clearly friendly.