Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Quando pedalava pela floresta, vi uma bicicleta antiga encostada a um tronco. - While I was pedalling through the forest, I saw an old bicycle leaning against a trunk.

Pedalava is the pretérito imperfeito of pedalar, used to describe an action that was ongoing or habitual in the past (“I was cycling” or “I used to cycle”). If you used the simple past pedalei, it would mean “I cycled” as a completed action, not part of the background.

Could you say enquanto pedalava instead of quando pedalava?

Yes. Both quando and enquanto introduce a temporal clause. Quando pedalava and enquanto pedalava both mean “when/while I was cycling.” Enquanto emphasizes “during the time that,” but in everyday speech they’re often interchangeable here.

What is pela in pela floresta, and why not na floresta?

Pela is the contraction of por + a, meaning “through the.” So pedalava pela floresta = “I was cycling through the forest.” In contrast, na (em + a) means “in the,” describing a location rather than movement through it.

Why is there no subject pronoun before pedalava or vi?

Portuguese is a pro-drop language: when the verb ending clearly indicates the subject (here, first-person singular “I”), you can omit the pronoun eu. The meaning remains clear without it.

Why is vi used instead of via?

Vi is the pretérito perfeito of ver (“I saw”), used for a single, completed action at a specific moment. Via is the imperfect (“I was seeing” or “I used to see”), which wouldn’t fit for “I saw [it suddenly].”

Why does the adjective antiga come after bicicleta?

When antiga follows the noun, it usually describes age (“an old/vintage bike”). If you placed antiga before the noun (a “pre-positive” adjective), it could imply “former” (e.g. minha antiga bicicleta = “my former bike”), not necessarily that it’s old.

What does encostada a um tronco mean, and why use a instead of em?

Encostada is the past participle of encostar, used here as an adjective meaning “leaning.” The verb encostar when used transitively takes a (lean something to/against something). You could also say encostada no tronco (leaned on the trunk) if you wanted em + o, but the common pattern is encostar X a Y.

Why is um tronco indefinite and not o tronco?

Using the indefinite article um (“a trunk”) means the speaker isn’t referring to any specific, known trunk. If it were a particular trunk already identified, you’d say o tronco (“the trunk”).

Could you say quando estava pedalando instead of quando pedalava?

Yes. Estava pedalando is the periphrastic past continuous (pretérito imperfeito progressivo) and means “I was cycling.” It’s more explicit, but pedalava alone already conveys the ongoing action in a simpler form.

Why is the phrase encostada a um tronco placed after bicicleta antiga?

In Portuguese, short descriptive adjectives (like antiga) typically go right after the noun, and longer phrases (like a participle + prepositional phrase) come after. So bicicleta antiga (old bike) comes first, then encostada a um tronco describes its additional state (“leaning against a trunk”).