Estou com vergonha de perguntar.

Because Portuguese usually uses estar for a temporary state or feeling, and ser for something more permanent or defining.

So:

• Estou com vergonha = I’m feeling embarrassed / shy right now
• Sou vergonhoso(a) = I’m an embarrassing person, or sometimes “I’m shameful,” which is not the same idea

In this sentence, the speaker is describing a current emotional state, so estou is the natural choice.

This is a very common Portuguese pattern: estar com + noun to describe a state or condition.

For example:

• Estou com fome = I’m hungry
• Estou com sono = I’m sleepy
• Estou com medo = I’m afraid
• Estou com vergonha = I’m embarrassed / shy

Literally, com vergonha means with embarrassment/shyness, but in natural English we translate it as a feeling: I’m embarrassed, I’m shy, or I feel awkward depending on context.

Vergonha can cover several related ideas in English:

• embarrassment
• shame
• shyness
• awkwardness

In Estou com vergonha de perguntar, it usually means something like:

• I’m embarrassed to ask
• I’m too shy to ask
• I feel awkward asking

So the exact English translation depends on context. In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, vergonha is often broader than any one single English word.

After vergonha, Portuguese normally uses de + infinitive when you want to say what someone is embarrassed, ashamed, or shy about doing.

Pattern:

• ter/estar com vergonha de + infinitive

Examples:

• Estou com vergonha de falar. = I’m embarrassed to speak.
• Ela tem vergonha de cantar. = She’s shy about singing.
• Temos vergonha de pedir ajuda. = We’re embarrassed to ask for help.

So de perguntar means to ask / about asking.

Yes. That is also very common and natural.

There is a small difference in feel:

• Estou com vergonha de perguntar often sounds more immediate, like a current feeling in the moment.
• Tenho vergonha de perguntar can sound a bit more general or habitual, though it can also describe a current situation.

In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, both are very common.

Yes, and that is completely normal. Portuguese often leaves the object unstated when it is obvious from context.

So Estou com vergonha de perguntar can mean:

• I’m embarrassed to ask.
• I’m shy about asking.

If you want to make it explicit, you can add the object:

• Estou com vergonha de perguntar isso. = I’m embarrassed to ask that.
• Estou com vergonha de te perguntar isso. = I’m embarrassed to ask you that.
• Estou com vergonha de perguntar para ela. = I’m embarrassed to ask her.

In Brazilian Portuguese, a few natural options are:

• Estou com vergonha de te perguntar.
• Estou com vergonha de perguntar para você.

Both are common.

A quick note:

• te perguntar is very direct and common in speech
• perguntar para você is also very common in Brazil, especially conversationally

You may also hear lhe perguntar, but in spoken Brazilian Portuguese that is less common than te perguntar or perguntar para você.

Not in this structure.

With vergonha, the normal preposition is de:

• vergonha de perguntar
• vergonha de falar
• vergonha de pedir

If you used pra perguntar, that would usually express purpose, like in order to ask, which is a different idea.

So:

• Estou com vergonha de perguntar. = correct
• Estou com vergonha pra perguntar. = not natural here

Yes. In casual speech, estou is very often reduced to tô.

So you will frequently hear:

• Tô com vergonha de perguntar.

This is extremely common in Brazil and sounds natural in conversation. In writing:

• Estou is more neutral and standard
• Tô is informal

Yes, depending on context.

Vergonha can range from mild social awkwardness to stronger shame. But in a sentence like Estou com vergonha de perguntar, the most common feeling is usually:

• shy
• embarrassed
• hesitant
• awkward

If someone wanted to express stronger moral shame, context would usually make that clearer.

So ashamed to ask is possible, but embarrassed to ask or too shy to ask is often closer in everyday situations.

Yes. This sentence does not change based on the speaker’s gender.

• Estou com vergonha de perguntar. works for anyone.

That is because:

• estou does not mark gender
• vergonha is a noun, and its grammatical gender is always feminine, but that does not describe the speaker’s gender

So both a man and a woman can say exactly the same sentence.

It is neutral and very natural.

• Estou com vergonha de perguntar. = standard, natural, works in many situations
• Tô com vergonha de perguntar. = more informal and conversational

So the version you have is perfectly fine in both spoken and written Portuguese, as long as the context is not extremely formal.

You could, but it usually sounds less natural for this specific everyday meaning.

• Estou com vergonha de perguntar is the most common way to express I’m embarrassed / shy to ask
• Estou envergonhado(a) tends to sound more like I’m ashamed or I feel ashamed, often a bit stronger or more formal

So for ordinary conversational situations, Brazilians would usually prefer:

• Estou com vergonha de perguntar

You just change the tense of estar:

• Estava com vergonha de perguntar. = I was embarrassed to ask.
• Fiquei com vergonha de perguntar. = I ended up feeling embarrassed to ask.
• Vou ficar com vergonha de perguntar. = I’m going to feel embarrassed to ask.
• Estarei com vergonha de perguntar. = I will be embarrassed to ask.
  This is grammatical, but less common in everyday speech than vou ficar.

In natural Brazilian Portuguese, ficar com vergonha is also very common when talking about becoming embarrassed.

A rough approximation is ver-GON-ya, but with an important detail:

• the nh in Portuguese is like the ny sound in canyon
• the stressed syllable is gon

So vergonha sounds approximately like:

• vehr-GON-ya

Also, the final a is usually light, not a strong English ah.

This word can take some practice because the nh sound is very characteristic of Portuguese.