Ontem eu cortei um pêssego e uma ameixa para colocar no iogurte.

Ontem means yesterday, and putting it at the beginning is a very common way to set the time frame right away.

Portuguese word order is fairly flexible here, so these are all possible:

• Ontem eu cortei um pêssego e uma ameixa...
• Eu cortei um pêssego e uma ameixa ontem...

Starting with Ontem just gives a natural time-first emphasis.

That is true: Brazilian Portuguese often omits subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

So you could also say:

• Ontem cortei um pêssego e uma ameixa para colocar no iogurte.

Including eu is still completely natural. It can make the sentence a little clearer, a little more conversational, or slightly more emphatic. In Brazilian Portuguese, speakers use subject pronouns more often than in European Portuguese, so eu here sounds normal.

Cortei is the 1st person singular preterite of cortar (to cut).

• cortar = infinitive
• eu cortei = I cut

The preterite is used because this is a completed action in the past: yesterday, the speaker cut the fruit.

This fits the idea of a finished event:

• Ontem eu cortei... = Yesterday I cut...

Because cortei and cortava express different kinds of past actions.

• cortei = a completed action
• cortava = an ongoing, habitual, or background action in the past

Here, the speaker is talking about one completed event yesterday, so cortei is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Ontem eu cortei um pêssego... = Yesterday I cut a peach...
• Quando eu era criança, eu cortava frutas para o café da manhã. = When I was a child, I used to cut fruit for breakfast.

They are the indefinite articles a/an.

• um pêssego = a peach
• uma ameixa = a plum

Portuguese articles must agree with the noun’s grammatical gender:

• pêssego is masculine → um
• ameixa is feminine → uma

This is grammatical gender, not biological sex.

Because the sentence is talking about one peach and one plum as whole items being cut, not about the resulting pieces.

So:

• um pêssego e uma ameixa = one peach and one plum

Even if they were later sliced into many pieces, the original objects are still singular.

Para colocar means to put or in order to put.

This structure expresses purpose:

• cortei ... para colocar no iogurte
• I cut ... to put in the yogurt

So the meaning is: the reason the speaker cut the fruit was to put it in the yogurt.

In Portuguese, para + infinitive is a very common way to express purpose.

It is understood to be the same person: I.

So the sentence naturally means:

• Yesterday I cut a peach and a plum to put them in the yogurt.

Portuguese often leaves that subject unspoken in infinitive clauses when it is obvious from context.

If the subject were different, Portuguese would usually make that clearer in some other way.

Because Portuguese often leaves the object unstated when it is already obvious.

Here, after cortei um pêssego e uma ameixa, everyone understands that the thing being put into the yogurt is the fruit.

So para colocar no iogurte sounds natural.

A more explicit version could be possible, but it is less natural in everyday speech. Also, since um pêssego e uma ameixa are mixed genders, object pronouns get a bit less straightforward, and speakers often just avoid them by leaving the object implied.

No is a contraction of:

• em = in
• o = the

So:

• em + o = no
• no iogurte = in the yogurt

This contraction is extremely common in Portuguese.

Other similar contractions:

• na = em + a
• nos = em + os
• nas = em + as

Because Portuguese often uses definite articles in places where English does not.

Here, no iogurte literally means in the yogurt, but in natural English we often just say in yogurt or in the yogurt, depending on context.

In Portuguese, using the article here sounds very normal and idiomatic.

In Brazilian Portuguese, pêssego is pronounced roughly like:

• PEH-se-go

The stress is on the first syllable: PÊS-se-go.

A few useful points:

• The ê with a circumflex shows a stressed vowel.
• The ss gives an s sound like in see, not a z sound.

So it should not sound like pezego.

In Brazilian Portuguese:

• ameixa usually means plum
• ameixa seca means prune

So in this sentence, uma ameixa is understood as a fresh plum, not a dried prune.

Yes. In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, pra is a very common informal contraction of para.

So these both work:

• para colocar no iogurte — more neutral/full form
• pra colocar no iogurte — very common in speech

In writing, especially more formal writing, para is usually preferred.

Yes. Portuguese allows some flexibility. For example:

• Ontem eu cortei um pêssego e uma ameixa para colocar no iogurte.
• Eu cortei um pêssego e uma ameixa ontem para colocar no iogurte.
• Eu cortei ontem um pêssego e uma ameixa para colocar no iogurte.

The first version sounds very natural because it starts with the time expression and then gives the action.

No. Colocar is very common and natural, but there are other possibilities depending on style.

For example:

• para pôr no iogurte = also to put in the yogurt

In Brazil, colocar is often more common in everyday speech than pôr, especially for learners because it feels straightforward and widely usable.

So para colocar no iogurte is an excellent choice.