Breakdown of Eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
Questions & Answers about Eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
Quero conhecer literally is “I want to get to know / to become acquainted with”.
In practice:
- conhecer alguém often means to meet someone (for the first time) or to get to know someone.
- In this sentence, Eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã, the most natural English is “I want to meet the funny actor tomorrow.”
If you already know the person well, conhecer by itself usually refers to that existing familiarity (e.g. Eu conheço esse ator = “I know that actor / I’m familiar with him”). Here, with quero conhecer, it suggests you don’t know him personally yet and want that to change.
In Portuguese, when you have two verbs in a row where the first one is a “helping” or “modal-like” verb (want, need, like, can, etc.), the pattern is:
[conjugated verb] + [infinitive]
So:
- Eu quero conhecer
= I want to meet
(quero is conjugated; conhecer stays in the infinitive)
Other examples:
- Eu gosto de viajar. – I like to travel.
- Nós precisamos estudar. – We need to study.
- Ela pode ajudar. – She can help.
Eu quero conheço is incorrect because you’re trying to conjugate both verbs. Only querer (the first verb) gets conjugated.
Yes, you can.
Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when the verb form already shows who the subject is. Quero clearly indicates eu (I), so:
- Eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
- Quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
Both are grammatically correct and natural in Brazilian Portuguese.
Using eu adds a bit of emphasis or clarity (especially in spoken language), but it’s not required.
You normally need the article here. In Portuguese, singular countable nouns almost always take an article (definite or indefinite) unless there’s a special reason not to.
- o ator engraçado = the funny actor (a specific one, known from context)
- um ator engraçado = a funny actor (not a specific, known one)
Quero conhecer ator engraçado sounds wrong or at best very unnatural in standard Portuguese. The article o tells us we are talking about a particular actor that both speaker and listener can identify.
o ator engraçado
- the funny actor
- Refers to a specific, identifiable person. The listener is expected to know which actor you mean (from context).
um ator engraçado
- a funny actor
- Refers to some funny actor, not a specific one already established in the conversation.
So:
- Eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
= I want to meet the funny actor tomorrow (that one we’ve been talking about). - Eu quero conhecer um ator engraçado amanhã.
= I want to meet a funny actor tomorrow (any funny actor).
In Portuguese, the default position for most adjectives is after the noun:
- ator engraçado – funny actor
- casa grande – big house
- filme interessante – interesting movie
So o ator engraçado is the standard order.
Adjectives can come before the noun, but:
- It’s less common in everyday speech.
- It can sound more poetic, formal, or emphatic.
- Sometimes the meaning changes slightly (e.g. um grande ator = a great actor; um ator grande = a big/tall actor).
With engraçado, saying um engraçado ator would be very unusual and feel stylistic or odd; keep it after the noun: um ator engraçado.
Adjectives in Portuguese agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- ator is masculine singular.
- So the adjective must also be masculine singular: engraçado.
Other forms:
- o ator engraçado – the funny (male) actor
- a atriz engraçada – the funny (female) actress
- os atores engraçados – the funny (male/mixed) actors
- as atrizes engraçadas – the funny (female) actresses
So if you changed ator to atriz, you’d change engraçado to engraçada.
Yes. Amanhã (tomorrow) is quite flexible in position. All of these are correct:
- Eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
- Amanhã eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado.
- Eu quero, amanhã, conhecer o ator engraçado. (more formal / written style)
Typical everyday options:
- Amanhã eu quero… (time first, then sentence)
- Eu quero … amanhã. (time at the end)
The meaning doesn’t change; the difference is mostly rhythm and emphasis.
In Portuguese (like in English), the present tense is often used to talk about near-future plans or intentions:
- Eu quero conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
Literally: I want to meet the funny actor tomorrow.
This naturally refers to a future event.
Other ways to talk about the future:
- Eu vou conhecer o ator engraçado amanhã.
= I’m going to meet the funny actor tomorrow. - Conhecerei o ator engraçado amanhã.
= I will meet the funny actor tomorrow. (more formal / written, less common in speech)
In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, present + time expression (like amanhã) and ir + infinitive (vou conhecer) are much more common than the synthetic future (conhecerei).
They each have a different nuance:
conhecer alguém
- to meet someone for the first time / to get to know them
- Quero conhecer o ator. = I want to (finally) meet / get to know the actor.
encontrar alguém
- to meet up with or run into someone (not necessarily the first time)
- Vou encontrar o ator amanhã. = I’m going to meet (up with) the actor tomorrow.
ver alguém
- literally “to see someone”; can mean to see or sometimes “to visit” / “to meet briefly”
- Quero ver o ator amanhã. = I want to see the actor tomorrow.
In your sentence, conhecer suggests you don’t know him personally yet and you want that first personal contact.
Portuguese does not use the “personal a” like Spanish.
So:
- Spanish: conocer al actor
- Portuguese: conhecer o ator
In Portuguese, you just use the normal definite article (or no article, depending on the phrase). There is no extra preposition a required just because the object is a person.
Approximate Brazilian pronunciations:
amanhã
- a-ma-nhã
- nh sounds like ny in “canyon”.
- ã (with tilde) is a nasal vowel; you let air go out through your nose.
- Roughly: ah-ma-NYAH (with a nasal final vowel, not a clear “-ya”).
conhecer
- co-nhe-cer
- nh again = ny.
- Stress is on the last syllable: co-nhe-CER.
- Roughly: koh-nye-SAIR (in many Brazilian accents).
Saying them slowly:
- amanhã: a–ma–nhã
- conhecer: co–nhe–cer