Meu joelho dói quando eu caminho muito.

My knee hurts when I walk a lot.

Breakdown of Meu joelho dói quando eu caminho muito.

• eu: I
• caminhar: to walk
• meu: my
• quando: when

Questions & Answers about Meu joelho dói quando eu caminho muito.

Why is it meu joelho and not minha joelho?

Because joelho is a masculine noun in Portuguese, so the possessive has to match it:

• meu joelho = my knee
• minha perna = my leg

The possessive agrees with the noun’s grammatical gender, not with the speaker’s gender.

What verb is dói, and why does it look irregular?

Dói comes from the verb doer, which means to hurt / to ache.

In this sentence, joelho is the subject, so the verb is in 3rd person singular:

• Meu joelho dói. = My knee hurts.

It is irregular, so you cannot just treat it like a regular -er verb.

A few useful forms:

• eu doo
• você / ele / ela dói
• nós doemos
• eles doem

Also notice the accent in dói.

How do you pronounce dói?

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is doy.

The stress is on that one syllable: DÓI.

So:

• dói ≈ doy
• not DO-ee

Is eu necessary in quando eu caminho muito?