Eu estou a cozinhar o jantar agora.

I

Breakdown of Eu estou a cozinhar o jantar agora.

• estar: to be
• agora: now
• cozinhar: to cook
• o jantar: the dinner

Questions & Answers about Eu estou a cozinhar o jantar agora.

Why do we say estou a cozinhar instead of estou cozinhando in European Portuguese?

In European Portuguese, it is very common to use the construction estar + a + infinitive to express continuous actions (e.g., estou a cozinhar). This is the preferred way to express the progressive (ongoing) tense in Portugal. In Brazilian Portuguese, you would typically say estou cozinhando, which uses a gerund (-ando ending).

Is there a difference between cozinhar and other verbs like fazer when referring to cooking?

In general, cozinhar specifically means to cook; it focuses on the act of preparing food. Fazer o jantar can also be used and is quite common in casual speech to mean make dinner, but cozinhar highlights the cooking process itself.

Why do we say o jantar with the article o?

In Portuguese, it’s common to use a definite article before nouns, even in contexts where English would often omit it. O jantar literally translates to the dinner. Using the definite article in this sentence makes it clear that we’re talking about dinner as a specific meal.

What role does agora play in this sentence?

Agora means now. Adding agora emphasizes that the action (cooking) is happening at this very moment. You could say Eu estou a cozinhar o jantar without agora, but including it removes all ambiguity and strongly points to the action taking place right now.