Se você mexer o café devagar, ele vai ficar melhor.

In this sentence, mexer is not the infinitive in function, even though it looks the same. It is the future subjunctive form.

After se when you mean if in a real future possibility, Portuguese usually uses:

• se + future subjunctive
• main clause with a future idea

So:

• Se você mexer o café devagar, ele vai ficar melhor.

This means If you stir the coffee slowly, it will get better.

Compare:

• Se você mexe o café... = less standard for this kind of future condition
• Se você mexer o café... = the normal structure

For regular -er and -ir verbs, the future subjunctive often looks exactly like the infinitive, which is why this can be confusing.

Here, mexer means to stir or to move around.

With café, mexer o café means stirring the coffee, usually with a spoon.

But mexer is a very flexible verb in Portuguese. Depending on context, it can mean:

• to move
• to touch
• to mess with
• to tamper with
• to stir

So in this sentence, the object o café tells you that stir is the right meaning.

Both can mean slowly, but devagar is much more common and natural in everyday Brazilian Portuguese.

• devagar = slowly, gently, at a slow pace
• lentamente = slowly, but often sounds more formal or more like written language

So:

• mexer o café devagar sounds natural and conversational
• mexer o café lentamente is possible, but less everyday

Ele refers to o café.

Since café is a masculine noun in Portuguese, the pronoun used to refer back to it is ele.

• o café → masculine
• ele = it/he

In English, we say it, but Portuguese uses the same word system as he/she for things:

• o café ... ele
• a sopa ... ela

So ele vai ficar melhor means it will get better.

Both are possible, but vai ficar melhor is much more common in everyday Brazilian Portuguese.

• vai ficar melhor = natural spoken Brazilian Portuguese
• ficará melhor = more formal, more written, or more distant in tone

This is similar to English:

• It’s going to get better = common
• It will get better = also correct

In Brazilian Portuguese, ir + infinitive is used very often for future meaning.

Literally, ficar often means to become, to get, or to end up.

So:

• ficar melhor = to get better / to become better

Portuguese uses ficar very often for changes of state:

• ficar feliz = to become happy
• ficar quente = to get hot
• ficar melhor = to get better

So the coffee is not just better in a static sense; it becomes better after being stirred slowly.

Because melhor is the normal comparative form of bom.

Just like in English:

• good → better
• not usually more good

In Portuguese:

• bom → melhor
• not normally mais bom

So:

• ele vai ficar melhor = it will get better

This is one of the irregular comparatives you simply learn as a set:

• bom → melhor
• mau/ruim → pior
• grande → maior
• pequeno → menor

Usually, no. That would sound incomplete or unnatural here.

Portuguese often allows subject pronouns to be omitted, but only when the verb form clearly shows who the subject is. In this case, mexer could match different subjects because the future subjunctive form does not clearly identify the person by itself.

So:

• Se você mexer o café devagar... = clear and natural
• Se mexer o café devagar... = can sound like if one stirs... or just incomplete, depending on context

In everyday Brazilian Portuguese, keeping você here is the safest and most natural choice.

Sometimes, but not with exactly the same nuance.

• mexer o café = stir the coffee
• misturar = mix

When you use a spoon in a cup, mexer is the most natural everyday verb. Misturar sounds more like combining ingredients or making things blend together.

Examples:

• Mexe o café = Stir the coffee
• Mistura o açúcar no café = Mix the sugar into the coffee

So in this sentence, mexer is the best choice.

No, they are similar in structure but different in meaning.

• Se você mexer o café devagar = If you stir the coffee slowly
• Quando você mexer o café devagar = When you stir the coffee slowly

Se expresses a condition or possibility.
Quando expresses something expected to happen at some point.

Both can use the future subjunctive, which is why the verb form stays the same:

• se você mexer
• quando você mexer

But the meaning changes from if to when.

The most natural order is:

• mexer o café devagar

That is, verb + object + adverb.

Putting devagar before o café is possible in some contexts, but it sounds less natural here:

• mexer devagar o café = possible, but awkward for many speakers
• mexer o café devagar = normal and natural

Portuguese word order is flexible, but not every possible order sounds equally natural.

Usually it means the coffee in the cup, that is, the drink.

Portuguese often uses the name of the substance or drink directly:

• mexer o café = stir the coffee
• beber o café = drink the coffee

Just like in English, the exact interpretation comes from context. Normally, nobody understands this as moving the whole cup around. It means stirring the liquid.

A simple approximate pronunciation for an English speaker is:

seh voh-SEH meh-SHER oo kah-FEH jee-vah-GAR, EH-lee vai fee-KAR meh-LYOR

A few useful notes:

• você has stress on the last syllable: vo-cê
• mexer sounds like meh-SHER
• café has stress on the last syllable: ca-FÉ
• devagar usually sounds like jee-vah-GAR in many Brazilian accents because the de often sounds like jee
• melhor has a lh sound, which is like a soft ly sound

Pronunciation varies across Brazil, but this approximation will help you say it in a recognizable way.