Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, eu fico calmo e durmo rápido.

With a good pillow and a soft blanket, I become calm and fall asleep quickly.

Breakdown of Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, eu fico calmo e durmo rápido.

• eu: I
• um: a
• com: with
• e: and
• dormir: to sleep
• bom: good
• ficar: to become
• rápido: quickly
• o travesseiro: the pillow
• o cobertor: the blanket
• calmo: calm
• macio: soft

Questions & Answers about Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, eu fico calmo e durmo rápido.

What does com mean here, and can I move that phrase to another position in the sentence?

Com literally means “with”. The phrase Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio means “With a good pillow and a soft blanket”.

Yes, you can move it, just like in English:

• Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, eu fico calmo e durmo rápido.
• Eu fico calmo e durmo rápido com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio.

Both are correct. Starting with com… emphasizes the condition (having a good pillow and a soft blanket); putting it at the end sounds a bit more neutral.

Why is it um bom travesseiro and um cobertor macio? Do I really need um twice?

Um is the masculine singular indefinite article, equivalent to “a”/“one” in English.

• um bom travesseiro = a good pillow
• um cobertor macio = a soft blanket

Repeating um is the most natural here, because these are two different items. You could say:

• Com um bom travesseiro e cobertor macio…

and people would understand, but it sounds a bit less natural and slightly “compressed,” as if you’re grouping them together more. In everyday speech and writing, Brazilians usually repeat the article in a list when the items are distinct.

Why is it bom travesseiro but cobertor macio? Why is one adjective before the noun and the other after?

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun:

• cobertor macio = soft blanket
• travesseiro confortável = comfortable pillow

But some common adjectives can go before or after the noun, with a subtle difference in nuance. Bom is very often placed before:

• um bom travesseiro (more idiomatic, sounds smoother)
• um travesseiro bom (also correct; can feel a bit more neutral or contrastive, like “a pillow that is good, as opposed to others”)

For macio, the normal, neutral position is after the noun:

• um cobertor macio is the standard, natural order.
• um macio cobertor sounds poetic or old‑fashioned.

So the sentence uses the most natural-sounding options: bom before travesseiro, and macio after cobertor.

What’s the difference between travesseiro and almofada?

Both can be translated as “pillow”, but they’re used in different contexts:

• travesseiro: the long, rectangular pillow you sleep on in bed.
• almofada: cushions or decorative pillows on a sofa, chair, bed, etc.

In this sentence, travesseiro is correct because it’s clearly about sleeping.

Why is it bom and macio, not boa and macia?

Adjectives in Portuguese agree with the gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) of the noun.

• travesseiro is masculine singular → bom travesseiro
• cobertor is masculine singular → cobertor macio

If the nouns were feminine, the adjectives would change:

• uma boa cama (a good bed) – cama is feminine
• uma manta macia (a soft throw/blanket) – manta is feminine

Plural would also change:

• bons travesseiros (good pillows)
• cobertores macios (soft blankets)

Why is it eu fico calmo and not eu estou calmo? What does ficar add?

Ficar has a few meanings, but two important ones here are:

1. to become / to get (into a state)
2. to stay / remain (in a state)

In eu fico calmo, it suggests something like:

• “I become calm” (I get calm)
• and also “I stay calm while those conditions are true.”

If you said eu estou calmo, it’s just describing your current state:
“I am calm.” It doesn’t emphasize the change into that state.

So:

• Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, eu fico calmo…
  = With a good pillow and a soft blanket, I get (and stay) calm.

You could say eu estou calmo instead; it would be grammatically correct, just a bit less expressive about the transition.

Why is calmo masculine? What if the speaker is a woman?

Calmo agrees with the subject eu. In this sentence, it’s implied that the speaker is male.

If the speaker were female, she would say:

• Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, eu fico calma e durmo rápido.

So:

• eu (homem) → eu fico calmo
• eu (mulher) → eu fico calma

Can I drop eu and just say Fico calmo e durmo rápido?

Yes. In Portuguese, subject pronouns like eu, você, ele, ela are often omitted when the verb ending makes the subject clear.

So all of these are correct:

• Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, eu fico calmo e durmo rápido.
• Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio, fico calmo e durmo rápido.

In speech, many Brazilians like to keep eu because it sounds a bit more personal or emphatic, but omitting it is natural and correct.

Is durmo rápido the same as “I fall asleep quickly”? Why not adormeço?

Literally:

• durmo rápido = “I sleep fast/quickly,”
• adormeço rápido = “I fall asleep quickly.”

In real usage, durmo rápido is very commonly used to mean “I fall asleep quickly”; context makes it clear we’re talking about the moment of falling asleep, not the entire duration of sleep.

You can say:

• …eu adormeço rápido.

That is more literally “I fall asleep quickly” and is perfectly correct, but durmo rápido sounds more colloquial and natural in everyday Brazilian Portuguese.

Why is it rápido and not rapidamente? Isn’t that the adverb?

Rápido in Portuguese can be both:

• an adjective:
  
  • um carro rápido = a fast car
• an adverb (how something is done):
  
  • Eu durmo rápido. = I sleep quickly.

Using the adjective form as an adverb is very common and fully correct in Brazilian Portuguese.

You could say eu durmo rapidamente, but it sounds more formal or bookish. In everyday speech, rápido is strongly preferred.

Do I need to make rápido agree with eu (masculine/feminine), like rápida for a woman?

No. Here, rápido is functioning as an adverb (describing how you sleep), so it does not change for gender or number.

A woman would still say:

• Eu durmo rápido. (not rápida in this context)

You only change it when it’s clearly an adjective describing a noun:

• um carro rápido (fast car – masculine singular)
• uma moto rápida (fast motorcycle – feminine singular)
• pessoas rápidas (fast people – plural)

Why is there a comma after macio? Is it required?

The comma separates the initial prepositional phrase from the main clause:

• Com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio,
  eu fico calmo e durmo rápido.

This is similar to English:

• With a good pillow and a soft blanket, I stay calm and fall asleep quickly.

In Portuguese, when you start a sentence with a longer introductory phrase like this, using a comma before the main clause is standard and recommended. It marks the boundary between the condition/context and the main statement.

Does com um bom travesseiro e um cobertor macio literally mean “when I have a good pillow and a soft blanket”?

Literally it’s “with a good pillow and a soft blanket”. However, in context it implies a condition, very close to:

• “When I have a good pillow and a soft blanket…”
• “If I have a good pillow and a soft blanket…”

Portuguese often uses com + noun in this way to indicate a situation or condition under which something happens:

• Com dinheiro, tudo fica mais fácil.
  = With money / When you have money, everything gets easier.
• Com você aqui, eu me sinto melhor.
  = With you here / When you’re here, I feel better.

So the literal “with” smoothly covers that meaning.

Could I say tranquilo instead of calmo? Is there a difference?

Yes, you could say:

• …eu fico tranquilo e durmo rápido.

Both calmo and tranquilo mean “calm”, but:

• calmo often focuses on being not agitated or nervous.
• tranquilo can imply calm, relaxed, at ease, sometimes “chilled out.”

In this sentence, both sound natural. Calmo is slightly more neutral; tranquilo can sound a bit more “relaxed/at ease.”