Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde. - I like to sleep on the sofa in the afternoon.

Dormir is the infinitive form (“to sleep”).
In Portuguese, when a verb is the object of another verb (like with gostar de), you usually use the infinitive, not a gerund.

So:

Eu gosto de dormir = I like sleeping / I like to sleep.

English uses a gerund (“sleeping”) or an infinitive (“to sleep”).
Portuguese uses the infinitive (dormir) after de.

Other examples:

Eu gosto de ler. = I like reading / to read.
Ela gosta de cantar. = She likes singing / to sing.

Can I drop “Eu” and just say “Gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde”?

Yes, and people do this all the time.

Full: Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.
Natural, everyday: Gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.

The verb gosto already tells you the subject is eu (I), so eu is optional unless you want to emphasize it:

EU gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde (and maybe other people don’t).

What does “no sofá” mean exactly, and how is it formed?

No sofá = “on the couch/sofa.”

It’s a contraction:

em (in/on/at) + o (the, masculine singular) → no

So:

no sofá = em + o sofá → “on the sofa”
no carro = em + o carro → “in the car”
no trabalho = em + o trabalho → “at work”

For feminine nouns, it’s:

em + a → na
- na cama = in/on the bed
- na escola = at school

Why is it “no sofá” (on the sofa) and not something like “em sofá”?

With most specific places or objects, Portuguese usually uses em + article (“in/on/at the …”), not bare em:

no sofá (on the sofa), not em sofá
na cama (in the bed), not em cama
no carro (in the car), not em carro

Saying em sofá sounds very unnatural, like “in sofa” without “the” and without specifying which sofa. In everyday speech, you almost always say no/na + noun.

What does “à tarde” mean, and how is it different from “de tarde” or “na tarde”?

À tarde means “in the afternoon” / “during the afternoon.”

Eu gosto de dormir no sofá *à tarde* = I like to sleep on the couch in the afternoon.

About the alternatives:

à tarde
- Very common, neutral, and standard.
- Used for a general time of day: in the afternoons.
de tarde
- Also common, often a bit more informal or regional.
- Meaning is basically the same: “in the afternoon”.
na tarde
- Much less common for routine time; sounds like a specific afternoon, e.g.:
- Na tarde de domingo, choveu muito. = “On Sunday afternoon, it rained a lot.”

For a general habit like this sentence, the natural choices are:

…no sofá *à tarde*
…no sofá de tarde

Why does “à” have that accent? What does “à” mean?

The grave accent in à marks a contraction:

a (preposition “to/at”)
a (feminine article “the”)
→ à

So literally à tarde is “at the afternoon,” but the natural translation is “in the afternoon.”

You see the same pattern in:

Vou *à escola.* = I go to the school.
Cheguei *à cidade ontem.* = I arrived in the city yesterday.

Key idea: à is a + a merged into one word, and the accent shows that merging (called crase in Portuguese).

Why isn’t there an accent like “à” before “sofá”? Why is it “no sofá” and not “à sofá”?

We use different prepositions:

For places you are in/on/at, Portuguese usually uses em + article → no / na:
- no sofá (on the couch)
- na cama (in bed)
- no escritório (at the office)
à (a + a) is often used with time expressions (à tarde, à noite), or with some movement verbs (ir à escola).

So:

dormir *no sofá* → location: “on the couch”
dormir *à tarde* → time: “in the afternoon”

À sofá is incorrect; sofa uses em + o → no.

Why is “tarde” singular? Why don’t we say “às tardes” if we mean “in the afternoons (in general)”?

In Portuguese, time expressions like this usually stay singular when talking about a general routine:

à tarde = in the afternoon (any typical afternoon)
de manhã = in the morning
à noite = at night / in the evening

You can say “às tardes”, but then it sounds more like you’re emphasizing multiple specific afternoons, and it’s less common in this everyday-habit sense.

For a general habit, “à tarde” is the natural choice:

Eu estudo *à tarde.* = I study in the afternoon(s).

How would I say “I don’t like sleeping on the couch in the afternoon”?

Just add não before gosto:

Eu não gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.
or, more natural in speech:
Não gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.

Word order:

Eu (subject)
não (negation)
gosto (verb)
de dormir no sofá à tarde (rest of the phrase)

Is there any difference in meaning between “Eu gosto de dormir” and “Eu durmo”?

Yes:

Eu gosto de dormir.
= I like sleeping. (It expresses preference/enjoyment.)
Eu durmo.
= I sleep. (It just states the action, not that you like it.)

In the full sentence:

Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.
= You’re saying you enjoy doing this, it’s something you like.

If you say:

Eu durmo no sofá à tarde.
= “I sleep on the couch in the afternoon” (a fact, not necessarily that you like it).

Could I say “Eu gosto de dormir no sofá de tarde” instead of “à tarde”?

Yes, you can, and many Brazilians do:

Eu gosto de dormir no sofá *de tarde.
= Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde*.

Both are correct, and the meaning is the same.
In many regions, de tarde sounds a bit more informal/colloquial; à tarde is a bit more neutral/standard, but both are very natural.

How would I change this sentence for morning or evening/night instead of afternoon?

You can swap the time expression:

Morning:
- Eu gosto de dormir no sofá *de manhã.* = I like sleeping on the couch in the morning.
Evening / Night:
- Eu gosto de dormir no sofá *à noite.* = I like sleeping on the couch at night / in the evening.

Patterns to remember:

de manhã = in the morning
à tarde = in the afternoon
à noite = at night / in the evening

How do you pronounce “Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde” in Brazilian Portuguese?

Approximate Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation (Rio/São Paulo style):

Eu – like “eh-oo” in one quick syllable: [eu]
gosto – GÓS-too (the s sounds like “ss”): [ˈɡɔs.to]
de – often sounds like “jee” before consonants in Brazil: [dʒi]
dormir – dor-MEER, with the r at the end soft and not rolled: [doʁˈmiʁ]
no – “noo” (short): [no]
sofá – so-FAH, stress on the last syllable: [soˈfa]
à – like “ah”: [a]
tarde – TAR-jee (the d
- e often sounds like “jee” in Brazil): [ˈtaʁ.dʒi]

Spoken smoothly, it sounds like:

“Eu GÓS-to jee dor-MEER no so-FAH a TAR-jee.”