Bloqueei o celular antes de denunciar o crime.

Because Portuguese often omits the subject pronoun when the verb already makes the subject clear.

• bloqueei = I blocked / I locked
• The -ei ending shows it is 1st person singular: I

So Bloqueei o celular is a natural way to say I blocked/locked the cellphone without saying eu.

You could say Eu bloqueei o celular, but it usually adds emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Bloqueei is the pretérito perfeito of bloquear.

It means a completed action in the past:

• bloqueio = I block / I am blocking
• bloqueei = I blocked / I locked

In this sentence, it shows that the action was finished before the next action happened.

Because in Portuguese, antes normally takes the preposition de before a verb in the infinitive.

So:

• antes de denunciar = before reporting
• antes de sair = before leaving
• antes de dormir = before sleeping

So antes denunciar would sound wrong here.

Because after the preposition de, Portuguese usually uses the infinitive form of the verb.

Here:

• antes de denunciar o crime = before reporting the crime

This is especially common when the subject of both actions is the same person:

• I locked the phone before reporting the crime

If the subject changes, Portuguese often uses a different structure, such as antes que + subjunctive.

For example:

• Bloqueei o celular antes de denunciar o crime.
  Same subject: I did both things.
• Bloqueei o celular antes que a polícia chegasse.
  Different subject: the police arriving

The order is:

1. Bloqueei o celular
2. denunciar o crime

So the speaker first blocked/locked the phone, and after that reported the crime.

That is exactly what antes de tells you.

Not always in the way English speakers think of denounce.

In Brazilian Portuguese, denunciar often means:

• to report
• to file a complaint
• to report something to the authorities

So denunciar o crime is usually best understood as:

• report the crime

If you translate it mechanically as denounce the crime, it may sound unnatural or too dramatic in English.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English.

So it is very normal to say:

• o celular
• o crime

Even when English might say:

• my phone
• the phone
• or sometimes just phone, depending on context

In Portuguese, the article often sounds more natural and complete.

It can mean different things depending on context.

With celular, bloquear can mean:

• lock the phone
• block the line/device
• disable access, especially after theft

Because the sentence mentions reporting a crime, many learners would wonder if it refers to:

• locking the phone immediately, or
• blocking the device/service after it was stolen

So the exact nuance depends on the situation. Portuguese allows that flexibility here.

O crime refers to a specific crime already known in the situation.

So the sentence suggests something like:

• the crime that happened
• the crime the speaker is reporting

If you said um crime, it would sound more like a crime in a general or indefinite sense.

In context, denunciar o crime is the natural choice because the speaker is talking about a particular event.

No. Noun gender in Portuguese is not determined by the verb-like ending here.

Celular is a noun, and its gender is simply:

• o celular = masculine

Likewise:

• o crime is also masculine

This is something learners usually need to memorize with the article:

• o celular
• o crime

That is often the safest way to learn noun gender.

Yes, it can look strange at first because of the -queei sequence.

A useful approximation is:

• blo-ke-EI

The important points are:

• qu before e gives a hard k sound
• the stress falls on the last syllable: -ei

So bloqueei sounds roughly like:

• blo-keh-AY

It comes from:

• infinitive: bloquear
• past: bloqueei

This spelling pattern also appears in similar verbs ending in -ear.

No, not in this sentence.

Use:

• antes de + infinitive when the same subject does both actions

So:

• Bloqueei o celular antes de denunciar o crime.

Use:

• antes que + subjunctive when there is a new subject or a full clause after it

For example:

• Bloqueei o celular antes que alguém mexesse nele.
  = I locked the phone before someone touched it.

So in your sentence, antes de denunciar is the correct structure.