Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Se sobrar bolo de chocolate depois da festa, eu vou comer em casa. - If there is chocolate cake left after the party, I will eat it at home.

Sobrou muita pizza depois do jogo.
There was a lot of pizza left after the game.
Sempre sobra comida no Natal.
There’s always food left over at Christmas.

Why is it “se sobrar” and not “se sobra” or “se vai sobrar”?

“Se sobrar” uses the future subjunctive, which is the normal tense in Portuguese for future “if/when” conditions that are uncertain.

Se sobrar bolo… = If there is (any) cake left… (in the future, and it may or may not happen)

In Portuguese:

For a future condition, you usually say:
Se + future subjunctive → main clause in present or future
- Se chover, fico em casa. (If it rains, I stay home.)
- Se eu tiver tempo, eu vou. (If I have time, I’ll go.)
- Se sobrar bolo, eu vou comer…
“Se sobra bolo” (present indicative) would sound wrong here; it would suggest a habitual, general rule, which doesn’t fit a single future party.
“Se vai sobrar bolo” is grammatically possible but sounds less natural and heavier than the simple, standard “Se sobrar bolo”. Brazilians strongly prefer the future subjunctive in this structure.

What tense or mood is “sobrar” in “Se sobrar bolo…”?

Here “sobrar” is the future subjunctive, 3rd person singular.

For sobrar, future subjunctive is:

(eu) sobrar
(você / ele / ela) sobrar
(nós) sobrarmos
(vocês / eles / elas) sobrarem

You recognize it because:

It comes after “se” with a future meaning (if later something happens)
It looks identical to the infinitive in many verbs, including sobrar. Only context tells you it’s future subjunctive.

Trigger words for the future subjunctive include:

se (if) – Se sobrar bolo…
quando (when) – Quando sobrar bolo, eu como.
enquanto, depois que, assim que etc., when referring to the future.

Why is it “bolo de chocolate” and not “chocolate bolo” like in English “chocolate cake”?

In Portuguese, the normal pattern for “X-flavored Y” or “Y made of X” is:

[main noun] + de + [type/flavor/material]

So:

bolo de chocolate = chocolate cake
suco de laranja = orange juice
sorvete de morango = strawberry ice cream
mesa de madeira = wooden table

Putting chocolate in front, like “chocolate bolo”, is simply not how Portuguese works. The structure with “de” is the standard way to express this relationship.

Why is there no article: “bolo de chocolate” instead of “o bolo de chocolate”?

Both are possible, but the nuance changes slightly:

Se sobrar bolo de chocolate…
Very natural. Focuses on “any chocolate cake”, not necessarily all of it. More generic, like “If there’s chocolate cake left…”.
Se sobrar o bolo de chocolate…
Emphasizes a specific cake that both speaker and listener already have in mind, closer to “If that chocolate cake is left over…”. It’s still correct, just more specific.

In everyday speech, in this kind of sentence, Brazilians often omit the article and say just “bolo de chocolate”.

What does “depois da festa” literally mean, and why “da”?

“Depois da festa” literally means “after the party”.

depois de = after
a festa = the party (feminine)
de + a = da (mandatory contraction)

So:

depois + de + a festa → depois da festa

If the noun were masculine, you’d have:

depois do jogo (after the game; de + o = do)

Why not just “depois festa” or “depois a festa”?

In Portuguese you must use the preposition “de” after “depois” when it’s followed directly by a noun:

✅ depois da festa
❌ depois festa
❌ depois a festa

So the pattern is “depois de + [article] + noun”:

depois do trabalho (after work)
depois da escola (after school)
depois das férias (after the vacation)

Why is it “eu vou comer” instead of simply “comerei”?

Brazilian Portuguese strongly prefers the “ir + infinitive” form for the future:

eu vou comer = I’m going to eat / I’ll eat
eu comerei = I will eat (simple future)

Both are grammatically correct, but:

“vou comer” is everyday, natural speech.
“comerei” sounds more formal, written, or sometimes emphatic.

In normal conversation, you will almost always hear:

Eu vou comer em casa.
rather than
Eu comerei em casa.

Why is there no direct object in “eu vou comer em casa”? Eat what?

The object (the cake) is understood from context:

Se sobrar bolo de chocolate…, eu vou comer em casa.
→ It’s clear what will be eaten: the remaining cake.

In Portuguese, if the object is obvious from the previous part of the sentence, it is very common (and natural) to omit it instead of repeating:

Comprei um livro, mas ainda não li.
(I bought a book, but I haven’t read [it] yet.)

If you really wanted to specify, you could say:

…eu vou comer o bolo em casa.
…eu vou comer esse bolo em casa.

But the original version is perfectly natural.

Could it be “vou comer em casa” without “eu”? Is that normal?

Yes:

Se sobrar bolo de chocolate depois da festa, vou comer em casa.

Dropping the subject pronoun “eu” is very normal in Portuguese because the verb ending or the context usually tells you who the subject is.

Vou comer. → context usually tells you it’s “eu” (I).
Vamos sair. → clearly “we are going to go out”.

Including “eu” can sound a bit more emphatic (I, specifically, am going to eat it), but both versions are correct.

Why is it “em casa” and not “na casa”?

“Em casa” is a fixed, idiomatic way to say “at home”.

em casa = at home (your home / my home, in general)
na casa = in / at the house (a specific house, with “a casa” as a concrete place)

Compare:

Vou ficar em casa hoje.
I’m staying at home today.
Vou ficar na casa da minha tia.
I’m staying at my aunt’s house.

So in this sentence, “em casa” is the natural choice, because the meaning is eat (it) at home.

Is the comma before “eu vou comer em casa” necessary?

Yes, this comma is standard and recommended.

General rule in Portuguese:

When a dependent clause (like a conditional with “se”) comes before the main clause, you normally separate them with a comma:
- Se chover, eu fico em casa.
- Se sobrar bolo de chocolate depois da festa, eu vou comer em casa.

If you invert the order, the comma is usually not used:

Eu vou comer em casa se sobrar bolo de chocolate depois da festa.

Could I say “Se ainda tiver bolo de chocolate…” instead of “Se sobrar bolo de chocolate…”?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly:

Se sobrar bolo de chocolate…
Focus on what remains after people have eaten. Idea of “left over”.
Se ainda tiver bolo de chocolate…
More like “If there is still chocolate cake (available)…”, without directly emphasizing that other people have already eaten part of it.

Both are very common and correct. Use “sobrar” when you want the “leftover” feel; “ainda tiver” is more neutral “if there’s still any”.

Could I use “quando” instead of “se”, as in “Quando sobrar bolo…”?

Grammatically yes, but the meaning changes:

Se sobrar bolo de chocolate…
→ If there is any cake left (it may or may not happen).
Quando sobrar bolo de chocolate…
→ When there is cake left (the speaker assumes it will definitely happen).

So “se” expresses doubt / condition, while “quando” expresses certainty in the future. In the original idea (“if there’s chocolate cake left…”), “se” is the correct choice.

Is “eu vou comer em casa” ambiguous—could it mean “I’ll eat at home (something else)”?

In isolation, yes, “eu vou comer em casa” just means:

“I’m going to eat at home” (without saying what).

But in the full sentence:

Se sobrar bolo de chocolate depois da festa, eu vou comer em casa.

Context makes it clear that what will be eaten at home is the leftover chocolate cake. Native speakers will automatically understand it that way; it doesn’t sound ambiguous in context.