Word
Aprendi a tornear o barro.
Meaning
I learned to throw the clay on a wheel.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Breakdown of Aprendi a tornear o barro.
a
to
o
the
aprender
to learn
o barro
clay or earthen mud used for pottery
Questions & Answers about Aprendi a tornear o barro.
Why is there no eu in Aprendi a tornear o barro?
In Portuguese, the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- aprendi = I learned
- So eu is understood automatically.
You could say Eu aprendi a tornear o barro, but in most contexts eu is unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast, for example:
- Eu aprendi, mas ele não. = I learned, but he didn’t.
This is very normal in European Portuguese.
What tense is aprendi?
Aprendi is the pretérito perfeito simples of aprender.
Here it means a completed action in the past:
- aprendi = I learned
It usually suggests that the learning happened and was achieved at some point in the past. For example, it can mean:
- I learned it once
- I managed to learn it
- I acquired that skill
The infinitive is aprender.
Why is there an a before tornear?