Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Tu pensas que o exame é difícil?

Tu is the informal second-person singular pronoun in European Portuguese and is equivalent to you in English. It’s used here to address someone in an informal context, typical in Portugal.

How is the verb pensar conjugated, and what does pensas indicate?

Pensas is the present tense form of pensar for tu (informal second-person singular). The ending -as shows that the subject is tu, meaning “you think.”

How is a question formed in Portuguese without inverting the subject and verb like in English?

In Portuguese, you can form a question by using the standard declarative word order and simply adding a question mark at the end. The intonation changes to signal that it’s a question. That’s why tu pensas que o exame é difícil? follows the same order as a statement.

What role does que play in this sentence?

Que acts as a conjunction meaning that. It connects the main clause (tu pensas) with the subordinate clause (o exame é difícil), much like the word that in the English sentence, “Do you think that the exam is difficult?”

Is the sentence formal or informal, and how might it differ in Brazilian Portuguese?

The sentence is informal because it uses tu. In Brazilian Portuguese, você is more commonly used for the informal "you," so the sentence would likely be você pensa que o exame é difícil?

What does the adjective difícil mean, and how is it used here?

Difícil means difficult. In the sentence, it is a predicate adjective that follows the linking verb é to describe the noun exame. This structure is similar to English, where adjectives follow linking verbs (e.g., “The exam is difficult”).

Why is there only a question mark at the end of the sentence, with no inverted question mark at the beginning?

Unlike Spanish, Portuguese only uses a single question mark at the end of a sentence to indicate that it’s a question. The structure of the sentence remains the same, with the rising intonation signaled by the question mark.