O técnico não apareceu hoje de manhã, mas disse que vem amanhã.

In Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article before a noun when referring to a specific, identifiable person.

So o técnico means the technician or the repairman/tech person that both speaker and listener already know about.

If you said just técnico, it would usually sound incomplete in this kind of sentence.

Técnico can mean different things depending on context, such as:

• technician
• tech support person
• repair person
• sometimes even coach in sports

In this sentence, it most naturally means a technician/service worker who was supposed to come.

Context is what tells you which meaning is intended.

Literally, aparecer often means to appear or to show up.

But in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, não apareceu is a very common way to say:

• didn’t show up
• didn’t come
• didn’t turn up

So here não apareceu hoje de manhã means the technician failed to show up this morning.

It is more natural in Portuguese than translating English appear literally might suggest.

Apareceu is the preterite form of aparecer.

• infinitive: aparecer
• preterite, 3rd person singular: apareceu

It is used because the speaker is talking about a completed event in the past: the technician was supposed to come this morning, and that event is now over.

So:

• não apareceu = didn’t show up

Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context. This is very normal and natural.

In this sentence, the subject is understood to be o técnico throughout:

• O técnico não apareceu...
• mas disse...
• que vem amanhã

Portuguese does not need to repeat ele unless the speaker wants emphasis or contrast.

So the full version could be:

• O técnico não apareceu hoje de manhã, mas ele disse que ele vem amanhã.

But that sounds more repetitive than natural.

In Portuguese, não normally goes directly before the verb it negates.

So:

• não apareceu = did not show up
• não veio = did not come
• não disse = did not say

This is the standard position for simple negation.

Hoje de manhã is the normal idiomatic way to say this morning in Brazilian Portuguese.

Common expressions are:

• hoje de manhã = this morning
• hoje à tarde = this afternoon
• hoje à noite = tonight / this evening

Using na manhã is possible in some contexts, but it usually sounds more formal, more specific, or less idiomatic here.

For example:

• na manhã de hoje = on the morning of today

That sounds more formal than everyday speech.

So hoje de manhã is the natural choice.

Mas means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• the technician didn’t show up this morning
• but he said he is coming tomorrow

So the contrast is between the problem and the follow-up explanation/promise.

After verbs like dizer, Portuguese usually uses que to introduce what was said.

So:

• disse que vem amanhã = said that he’s coming tomorrow

In English, that can often be omitted:

• He said he’s coming tomorrow

In Portuguese, omitting que here is generally not natural. You normally keep it.

This is a very common learner question.

Vem amanhã literally uses the present tense of vir, but in Portuguese the present tense is often used to talk about a near or planned future.

So:

• vem amanhã = is coming tomorrow / comes tomorrow
• virá amanhã = will come tomorrow

Both can be correct, but they feel different:

• vem amanhã sounds very natural and conversational
• virá amanhã sounds more formal, more definite, or more written

In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, vem amanhã is extremely common.

These forms are related but not identical.

• disse que vem amanhã = he said he’s coming tomorrow
• disse que virá amanhã = he said he will come tomorrow
• disse que viria amanhã = he said he would come tomorrow

The version in your sentence, disse que vem amanhã, is very natural in Brazilian Portuguese when reporting what someone said about a future action that is still relevant from the speaker’s point of view.

Viria often sounds a bit more conditional, more distant, or more dependent on context. It can suggest reported future from a past viewpoint, somewhat like would come in English.

So disse que vem amanhã is the most everyday, straightforward version here.

Vem is the 3rd person singular of the verb vir in the present tense.

• eu venho = I come / I am coming
• você/ele/ela vem = you/he/she comes / is coming
• nós vimos is not the present of vir; that means we saw from ver
• nós viemos = we come / we came, depending on context and tense pattern

So in this sentence, vem matches the understood subject o técnico.

Yes, it could, but the nuance changes slightly.

• O técnico não apareceu hoje de manhã = The technician didn’t show up this morning
• O técnico não veio hoje de manhã = The technician didn’t come this morning

Não veio focuses more directly on the fact that he did not come.

Não apareceu often suggests he was expected, but he never showed up, which can sound slightly more colloquial and a little more expressive in this situation.

Both are very natural.

Yes, in normal writing, a comma before mas is standard when it links two clauses like this.

So:

• O técnico não apareceu hoje de manhã, mas disse que vem amanhã.

This is the expected punctuation.

Normally, no. The most natural reading is that the technician himself is the one who said it.

Because Portuguese often omits repeated subjects, disse and vem are understood to refer back to o técnico unless context suggests otherwise.

So the default reading is:

• The technician didn’t show up this morning, but he said he is coming tomorrow.

If the speaker wanted to make it clear that someone else said it, Portuguese would usually specify that person more explicitly.