Eu recebo cartas pelo correio todos os dias.

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Breakdown of Eu recebo cartas pelo correio todos os dias.

• o dia: the day
• receber: to receive
• por: by

Questions & Answers about Eu recebo cartas pelo correio todos os dias.

Do I always have to include eu in a Portuguese sentence like this?

Subject pronouns such as eu are optional in Portuguese because the verb ending already tells you who’s doing the action. Recebo clearly means I receive, so in everyday speech you’d often drop eu: Recebo cartas pelo correio todos os dias. You only keep eu if you want to emphasize the subject or avoid ambiguity.

Why is there no article before cartas? Shouldn’t it be as cartas?

When you talk about letters in general (not specific ones), you omit the article. Recebo cartas means I receive letters (any or some letters). If you mean particular letters (for example, the ones you sent me), you would use the definite article: recebo as cartas.

What does pelo correio literally mean, and why not just por correio?

Pelo is the contraction of por + o, literally “by the.” Pelo correio means “by mail” or “through the postal system.” In European Portuguese, this is the idiomatic way to say “via post.” Saying por correio (without the article) is less common in Portugal, though you might encounter it in Brazilian Portuguese.

I’ve heard of os Correios as the postal service. Why is it singular correio here?