Eu tenho sono quando durmo pouco.

I am sleepy when I sleep too little.

Breakdown of Eu tenho sono quando durmo pouco.

• eu: I
• quando: when
• dormir: to sleep
• pouco: little

Questions & Answers about Eu tenho sono quando durmo pouco.

Why does Portuguese use tenho sono instead of a verb meaning am sleepy?

In Brazilian Portuguese, ter sono is a very common idiomatic way to express sleepiness. Literally, it looks like have sleep, but the natural meaning is be sleepy or feel sleepy.

Two very common options are:

• tenho sono
• estou com sono

Both are natural in everyday Brazilian Portuguese.

By contrast:

• estou sonolento = I am drowsy; possible, but less common in casual speech
• sou sonolento = I am a sleepy/drowsy person by nature; this sounds like a characteristic, not just a temporary feeling

What exactly does sono mean here?

Here, sono means sleepiness or drowsiness.

It is a masculine noun: o sono. But in the expression ter sono, Portuguese normally does not use the article, so the natural form is:

• tenho sono

not

• tenho o sono

In other contexts, sono can also refer more generally to sleep, depending on the sentence.

Why are both verbs in the present tense?