A médica escreveu uma receita para eu comprar o remédio certo.

The doctor wrote a prescription for me to buy the right medicine.

Breakdown of A médica escreveu uma receita para eu comprar o remédio certo.

• eu: I
• o: the
• comprar: to buy
• uma: a
• escrever: to write
• para: for
• o remédio: the medicine
• certo: right
• a médica: the doctor
• a receita: the prescription

Questions & Answers about A médica escreveu uma receita para eu comprar o remédio certo.

Why does it say a médica and not o médico?

Because médica is the feminine form meaning (female) doctor. Portuguese adjectives and many profession nouns have gendered forms:

• o médico = the (male) doctor
• a médica = the (female) doctor
  The article a agrees with the feminine noun médica.

What’s the difference between uma receita here and the English word “recipe”?

In Brazilian Portuguese, receita can mean either:

• recipe (for cooking), or
• prescription (medical)

In this sentence, escreveu uma receita clearly means wrote a prescription because it’s done by a médica and relates to remédio (medicine). If you want to be extra clear, people also say receita médica = medical prescription.

Why is escreveu used instead of escrevia?

Escreveu is the pretérito perfeito (simple past) and presents the action as completed: She wrote (it). Escrevia (imperfect) would suggest background, repetition, or an ongoing past situation, like She used to write / She was writing. Here it’s one finished event, so escreveu fits.

Is escreveu uma receita the normal way to say “wrote a prescription”?

Yes, escrever uma receita is very common. Another common verb is passar:

• A médica escreveu uma receita.
• A médica passou uma receita. (very common in Brazil; “issued/prescribed”)

Both work; passar often sounds more like “prescribe” than “write,” but escrever is perfectly natural.

Why is there para eu comprar instead of just para comprar?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

• para comprar o remédio certo = “to buy the right medicine” (generic; the buyer is implied)
• para eu comprar o remédio certo = explicitly “for me to buy the right medicine” (emphasizes that I am the one who will buy it)

Portuguese often uses para + subject + infinitive when it wants to name the subject of the infinitive clause.

Is para eu comprar considered correct Portuguese? I’ve heard people say it’s wrong.

It’s correct. In Brazilian Portuguese, para + pronoun (subject form) + infinitive is standard when the pronoun is the subject of the infinitive:

• para eu comprar
• para ele fazer
• para nós irmos

Some people get confused because after prepositions you often use mim (para mim, de mim, etc.). But mim cannot be the subject of a verb, so para mim comprar is nonstandard in formal grammar (even if you might hear it informally in some regions).

Could this also be para que eu comprasse o remédio certo? What’s the difference?

Yes. That version uses para que + subjunctive:

• para eu comprar (infinitive)
• para que eu comprasse (subjunctive, past context)

In this sentence, para eu comprar is the most straightforward. Para que eu comprasse can sound more formal or can better match certain time frames (especially if the main verb is in the past and you want to keep a “past-in-the-past” feeling). In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, the infinitive version is extremely common.

Why isn’t the verb comprar conjugated if eu is there?

Because comprar is an infinitive, not a finite verb form. Portuguese allows an infinitive clause to have an explicit subject (eu) without conjugating the infinitive.

Also, Portuguese has something called the personal infinitive (infinitivo pessoal), which can be conjugated in some cases (e.g., para comprarmos = for us to buy). But with eu, the personal infinitive form is often identical to the regular infinitive (comprar), so you don’t “see” a change.

What does certo mean here, and why is it after remédio?

Here certo means right/correct (the appropriate one): the right medicine.

Adjectives often come after the noun in Portuguese:

• o remédio certo = the correct/right medicine

Position can affect nuance. Sometimes switching changes meaning:

• o certo remédio is unusual in everyday Portuguese and would sound more literary/marked. Most of the time, for “the correct X,” Portuguese naturally uses X certo.

Why is it o remédio and not a remédio?

Because remédio is a masculine noun in Portuguese, regardless of the gender of the thing in real life:

• o remédio (masculine singular)
• os remédios (masculine plural)

Gender is grammatical, so you learn it with the word.

Does remédio mean “medicine” in general, or a specific drug?

It can mean both, depending on context:

• remédio often means a medication (a drug you take), especially in everyday speech.
• It can also mean “remedy” more broadly.

If you want a more formal/technical word for medication, medicamento is common:

• comprar o medicamento certo (more formal/medical) But remédio is very natural in daily Brazilian Portuguese.

Why are there so many little words like uma, o, a? Can they be dropped?

They’re articles, and Portuguese uses them more consistently than English in many cases:

• a médica = the doctor (specific)
• uma receita = a prescription (one, not previously specified)
• o remédio certo = the right medicine (specific/identifiable in context)

You can sometimes omit articles in headlines, lists, or very telegraphic speech, but in normal sentences they usually stay. Dropping them can sound unnatural or change meaning.

How would I pronounce this sentence (especially médica, receita, remédio)?

A rough Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation guide:

• A médica ≈ ah MEH-djee-kah (stress on MÉ)
• escreveu ≈ ess-kreh-VEH-ew (stress on VEU)
• uma receita ≈ OO-ma heh-SAY-tah (stress on SAY; initial r is often like an English “h” in many Brazilian accents)
• para eu comprar ≈ PAH-rah eh-OO kohm-PRAHR
• o remédio certo ≈ oo heh-MEH-djee-oo SEHR-too (stress on MÉ in remédio)

Accents like é in médica and remédio mark stress and vowel quality, helping you place emphasis correctly.