À tarde, eu costumo ler o jornal e beber café.

À tarde means in the afternoon.

The À is a contraction of a + a:

• the preposition a
• plus the feminine article a

This creates à, marked with a grave accent, called crase in Portuguese.

In time expressions, this is very common:

• à noite = at night / in the evening
• à tarde = in the afternoon

Do not confuse this with the acute accent in words like café. The accent in à is specifically showing the contraction.

Yes, it could.

Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear. Since costumo is clearly I usually, you do not need eu.

So both are natural:

• À tarde, eu costumo ler o jornal e beber café.
• À tarde, costumo ler o jornal e beber café.

Including eu can add a little emphasis or clarity, but it is not required here.

Costumo is the 1st person singular form of the verb costumar.

Costumar + infinitive means:

• to usually do
• to tend to do
• to have the habit of doing

So:

• eu costumo ler = I usually read
• eu costumo beber café = I usually drink coffee

It expresses a habitual action, not something happening right now.

Because they come after costumar.

In Portuguese, after costumar, the next verb normally stays in the infinitive:

• costumo ler = I usually read
• costumo beber = I usually drink
• costumo estudar = I usually study

This is similar to English structures like:

• I like to read
• I want to eat

So in this sentence:

• costumo ler o jornal e beber café means
• I usually read the newspaper and drink coffee

Because one costumo can govern both infinitives.

So:

• eu costumo ler o jornal e beber café

means:

• I usually read the newspaper and drink coffee

Portuguese does not need to say:

• eu costumo ler o jornal e costumo beber café

That repeated version is grammatical, but less natural unless you want emphasis.

Great question. This is about how articles are used in Portuguese.

• ler o jornal = read the newspaper
• beber café = drink coffee

With jornal, the sentence is referring to a specific kind of thing that is commonly treated as countable: the newspaper.

With café, Portuguese often uses the noun without an article when talking about the substance in a general sense, just like English often says drink coffee, not drink the coffee.

Compare:

• ler o jornal = read the newspaper
• comprar um jornal = buy a newspaper
• beber café = drink coffee
• beber o café = drink the coffee (a specific coffee)

In this sentence, yes, o jornal most naturally means the newspaper.

But jornal can also refer to a news program in some contexts, especially on TV:

• jornal da noite = evening news

Still, with ler o jornal, the usual meaning is clearly read the newspaper.

Both exist, but they are used a bit differently depending on region, style, and context.

• à tarde is very standard and widely accepted for in the afternoon
• de tarde is also common in Brazil, especially in everyday speech

For example:

• À tarde, eu estudo.
• De tarde, eu estudo.

Both can sound natural in Brazilian Portuguese. For learners, à tarde is a very safe standard choice.

The original sentence is already correct and natural. But in casual Brazilian Portuguese, you might hear small variations such as:

• À tarde, costumo ler o jornal e tomar café.
• De tarde, eu costumo ler o jornal e tomar café.

A useful note: in Brazil, tomar café is often more common than beber café when talking about drinking coffee. Both are correct, but tomar is extremely common for beverages.

So:

• beber café = correct
• tomar café = also correct, and often more idiomatic

A rough pronunciation guide is:

ah TAR-jee, eh-o koos-TOO-moo leh(r) oo zhor-NAW ee beh-BEHR kah-FEH

A few helpful notes:

• tarde often sounds like TAR-jee in many Brazilian accents
• j in jornal sounds like the s in measure or the zh sound
• final l in jornal is often pronounced like a w sound: zhor-NAW
• eu is often pronounced something like eh-o or yo, depending on accent and speed

Pronunciation varies across Brazil, but this gives you a useful approximation.

No. That is a very common confusion.

• costumo ler = I usually read
• estou acostumado a ler = I am used to reading

These are different ideas:

1. costumar = habitual action

   • Costumo beber café.
   • I usually drink coffee.

2. estar acostumado a = be accustomed to

   • Estou acostumado a beber café à tarde.
   • I am used to drinking coffee in the afternoon.

So in your sentence, costumo definitely means usually do, not am used to.