Breakdown of Depois de alongar, a instrutora me disse para respirar bem e beber água.
Questions & Answers about Depois de alongar, a instrutora me disse para respirar bem e beber água.
Both can exist, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.
- alongar = to stretch (something) or (very commonly in fitness contexts) to stretch (your body), with the object understood.
- alongar-se = explicitly to stretch oneself.
In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, especially in gym/fitness talk, Depois de alongar is very natural and often implies after stretching (my body) without needing -se.
Grammatically, Depois de alongar doesn’t state the subject, so it can be slightly ambiguous in isolation. Many listeners will assume it refers to the most relevant person in context.
Common interpretations:
- If you’re narrating your workout, it often means after I stretched (understood from context).
- It can also mean after the instructor stretched.
If you want to make it explicit:
- Depois de eu alongar, a instrutora me disse... = After I stretched, the instructor told me...
- Depois de ela alongar, a instrutora me disse... = After she (the instructor) stretched...
Portuguese has two common patterns:
1) depois de + infinitive (more compact)
- Depois de alongar, ... = After stretching, ...
2) depois que + finite verb (more explicit about who/when)
- Depois que eu alonguei, ... = After I stretched, ...
- Depois que a instrutora alongou, ... = After the instructor stretched, ...
The infinitive version is often used when the subject is obvious or not important to state.
Depois de alongar is an introductory adverbial phrase (“After stretching”). In Portuguese (as in English), it’s common to separate an introductory phrase from the main clause with a comma:
- Depois de alongar, a instrutora me disse...
You might occasionally see it without a comma in informal writing, but the comma is standard and clearer.
- instrutora is the feminine form of instructor (a female instructor).
- a is the definite article the (feminine singular).
So a instrutora = the instructor (female). If the instructor were male, you’d typically say o instrutor.
Both are possible, but Brazilian Portuguese strongly prefers proclisis (pronoun before the verb) in most everyday speech:
- A instrutora me disse... (most common in Brazil)
disse-me is more formal/literary in Brazil and is more common in European Portuguese style.
disse is the preterite (simple past) of dizer: she told/said.
- dizer often fits “told me” well, especially before advice/instructions.
- falar (to speak/talk) can work too, but the structure and nuance change:
- A instrutora me disse para... = The instructor told me to... (very direct instruction)
- A instrutora falou para eu... can exist, but dizer para + infinitive is a very common “told me to…” pattern.
Both are correct, but they’re different structures:
1) disse para + infinitive (very common in Brazil)
- me disse para respirar bem e beber água = told me to breathe well and drink water
2) disse que + subjunctive (more formal / more “reported speech” feel)
- me disse que eu respirasse bem e bebesse água
(told me that I should breathe well and drink water)
The sentence you have uses the simpler, very natural spoken pattern: disse para + infinitive.
Because one para can introduce a list of actions:
- para respirar bem e beber água = to breathe well and drink water
Both verbs (respirar, beber) stay in the infinitive because they’re governed by para and function as the instruction.
bem is an adverb meaning well. In health/fitness contexts, respirar bem often means:
- breathe properly
- breathe deeply / with good technique (depending on context)
So it’s not only “well” in a moral sense; it’s “correctly/adequately.”
In Portuguese, you often omit the article when speaking about something in a general, non-specific way:
- beber água = drink water (in general)
You’d use a if you mean specific water:
- beber a água = drink the water (for example, the water you brought, or the water in that bottle)
água is feminine: a água.
It matters for agreement:
- a água (feminine article)
- água gelada (cold water, feminine adjective) But it starts with a stressed a sound, so in the singular people often say:
- a água, but uma água, and sometimes you’ll see forms like a água pronounced smoothly to avoid two “a” sounds in a row.