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Questions & Answers about Eu estudo língua.
What does Eu mean in the sentence?
Eu is the subject pronoun and it translates directly to I in English.
What is the meaning of estudo?
Estudo is the first person singular present form of the verb estudar, which means to study. In this sentence, it translates as I study.
What does língua refer to in this context?
In this sentence, língua means language in a general or abstract sense—referring to language as a field of study rather than a specific language or the physical tongue.
Why is there no article before língua?
In Portuguese, when discussing academic subjects or fields of study, it is common to omit the definite or indefinite article. Here, dropping the article signals that língua is being used in a general sense, similar to saying I study language in English when referring to the discipline.
Could língua refer to something else in Portuguese?
Yes, língua can also mean tongue (the physical organ). However, given the context and the provided meaning, it is clearly being used to denote language as a subject of study.
How would you modify the sentence if you wanted to indicate studying a specific language?
To specify a particular language, you would typically include the article and the name of the language. For example, "Eu estudo a língua inglesa" means "I study the English language."