Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.

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Breakdown of Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.

• gostar de: to like
• a tarde: the afternoon
• dormir: to sleep

Questions & Answers about Eu gosto de dormir no sofá à tarde.

Why is it “Eu gosto de dormir” and not “Eu gosto dormir”?

In Portuguese, the verb gostar almost always needs the preposition de after it.

• Correct: Eu gosto *de dormir.* = I like to sleep / I like sleeping.
• Incorrect: Eu gosto dormir.

Think of gostar de as one unit, like “to be fond of” in English:

• Eu gosto *de música.* = I like music / I’m fond of music.
• Eu gosto *de dormir.* = I like sleeping.

Whenever you say what you like (a thing, an activity), you normally use gostar de + something.

What exactly is “de dormir”? Is it like “sleeping” or “to sleep”? Why is the verb in the infinitive?

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”?