Questions & Answers about Eu quero mais um bolo.
Yes. In Brazilian Portuguese it’s very natural to drop the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- Eu quero mais um bolo. – perfectly correct, a bit more explicit or emphatic.
- Quero mais um bolo. – also perfectly correct and very common in speech.
You usually keep eu:
- for emphasis (Eu quero, not someone else),
- when contrasting subjects (Eu quero, mas ela não quer),
- or when the context is unclear.
In neutral situations (ordering food, talking casually), Quero mais um bolo is fine and sounds natural.
Quero is the present tense, first‑person singular of the verb querer (to want).
- querer – the infinitive (to want)
- eu quero – I want
- você quer – you want
- ele/ela quer – he/she wants
- nós queremos – we want
- eles/elas querem – they want
So Eu quero mais um bolo literally maps to I want one more cake, where quero corresponds to want (conjugated for I), not to to want.
In this sentence, mais um means one more and is usually translated as another in natural English.
- mais = more
- um = one / a
Together, mais um usually implies:
- you already had some amount (maybe 1 cake or 1 slice),
- and now you want one additional unit.
So:
- Eu quero mais um bolo. ≈ I want another cake / I want one more cake.
They’re both about wanting more cake, but the nuance is different:
Eu quero mais um bolo.
- Literally I want one more cake.
- Emphasizes one additional unit (another whole cake, or another slice if context = slices).
- You’re adding one more.
Eu quero mais bolo.
- Literally I want more cake.
- Cake is treated more like a mass/uncountable thing.
- You’re asking for some more cake, not specifying the exact number of pieces.
So:
- Ordering an extra slice: Eu quero mais um pedaço de bolo. (one more slice)
- Asking for more cake in general, without caring about exact number: Eu quero mais bolo.
Both can often be translated as another cake, but there’s a nuance:
- mais um bolo – one more cake, focusing on adding one more to what you already had or ordered.
- outro bolo – a different cake / another cake, focusing more on difference or replacement.
Examples:
You’ve already eaten one slice and you want an additional slice of the same cake:
- Eu quero mais um pedaço de bolo. (one more slice)
You ordered a chocolate cake but now you want a different type (e.g., strawberry cake):
- Eu quero outro bolo. (a different cake)
In many everyday contexts, especially when just adding more of the same thing, mais um is more common.
You just change um to the number or quantity word, and make bolo plural when it’s countable.
- Eu quero mais dois bolos. – I want two more cakes.
- Eu quero mais três bolos. – I want three more cakes.
- Eu quero muitos bolos. – I want many cakes.
- Eu quero muitos outros bolos. – I want many other/different cakes.
- Eu quero muito mais bolo. – I want much more cake (uncountable, a lot more cake in general).
Note:
- With specific numbers, bolo → bolos.
- With mass‑style bolo (uncountable idea), it stays singular: mais bolo, muito bolo.
In Portuguese, articles (like um/uma) must agree in gender and number with the noun.
- bolo is a masculine noun → um bolo (a cake), os bolos (the cakes).
- A feminine noun like maçã (apple) would take uma: uma maçã.
So:
- um bolo – a cake
- uma maçã – an apple
About needing um:
- Eu quero mais um bolo. – I want one more cake. (um is essential here)
- Eu quero mais bolo. – I want more cake. (no article, because now it’s more like mass/uncountable)
If you mean one more unit, you use mais um.
If you mean more cake in general, you use mais bolo without um.
No. Those orders sound wrong or very strange in this context.
The natural order is:
- Eu quero + [quantity] + [noun]
So:
- Eu quero mais um bolo. – correct
- Eu quero mais dois bolos. – correct
- Eu quero mais bolo. – correct
Putting mais after bolo (bolo mais) does not mean more cake; it usually requires something after it (e.g., bolo mais doce = a sweeter cake), and even then you’d structure the sentence differently.
It’s understandable and not exactly rude, but in Brazilian Portuguese it can sound a bit direct or childlike if you use Eu quero… in service situations.
More polite / natural options when talking to a waiter:
Eu queria mais um pedaço de bolo, por favor.
- Literally: I would like one more piece of cake, please.
- queria (imperfect) often softens the request, like would like.
Você pode trazer mais um pedaço de bolo, por favor?
- Can you bring one more piece of cake, please?
Me vê mais um pedaço de bolo, por favor. (very common in Brazil, informal but polite)
So Eu quero mais um bolo is grammatically fine, but for politeness, prefer Eu queria… or a question form in real‑life interactions.
Roughly, in IPA: [ˈkɛ.ɾu majz ũ ˈbo.lu]
Some tips for an English speaker:
- que in quero – like ke in ketchup, but with an eh vowel: keh.
- r in quero – a single quick flap, like the tt in American water when said quickly.
- mais – like English mice. The s at the end sounds like s or z depending on speech, here closer to z.
- um – nasal oo sound; let air resonate in your nose: something like õõm.
- bolo – BOH‑lo, with a clear o in both syllables.
Spoken naturally, mais um often links: mai-zum (the final s of mais sounding like z before the u of um).