Meu avô estuda no jardim.

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Questions & Answers about Meu avô estuda no jardim.

Why does avô have a circumflex accent, and what is the difference between avô and avó?

The circumflex in avô marks a stressed, closed o sound and helps distinguish it from avó, which has an open o.

  • avô (circumflex) means “grandfather.”
  • avó (acute) means “grandmother.”
    Without the accent, both words would look the same on paper but sound different and mean different things.
Why is there no definite article o before meu avô, and could I say o meu avô estuda no jardim instead?

In Portuguese you can often include or omit the article before a possessive:

  • o meu avô estuda no jardim. (very common in European Portuguese)
  • Meu avô estuda no jardim. (also acceptable; more common in Brazilian Portuguese or in informal speech)
    Including o is the default in Portugal, but leaving it out is perfectly grammatical. Meaning and conjugation don’t change.
Why is the simple present estuda used instead of a continuous form like está a estudar or está estudando?

Portuguese has two main ways to talk about present actions:

  1. Simple present (estuda):
    • Describes habitual or regular actions (“He studies in the garden” as a routine).
  2. Present continuous:
    • European Portuguese: estar a + infinitiveestá a estudar (he is studying now).
    • Brazilian Portuguese: estar + gerundestá estudando.
      So in Meu avô estuda no jardim, you’re stating a fact or habit. To stress “right now,” an EP speaker would say O meu avô está a estudar no jardim.
How do contractions with em work? Why do we say no jardim instead of em o jardim?

In Portuguese, prepositions often merge with definite articles:

  • em + o → no
  • em + a → na
  • em + os → nos
  • em + as → nas
    So em o jardim contracts to no jardim. You’ll see the same pattern with de: de + o → do, de + a → da, etc.
Why is jardim masculine? Are there any rules to predict the gender of nouns?

Portuguese noun gender is largely arbitrary, but there are tendencies:

  • Nouns ending in –o are usually masculine (o livro, o carro).
  • Nouns ending in –a are usually feminine (a casa, a mesa).
    However, jardim ends in –im, and many –im nouns are masculine (o fim, o jardim). There are exceptions, so it’s safest to learn each noun with its article.
What exactly does jardim mean? Is it more like a garden or a yard?

Jardim generally refers to a cultivated outdoor space with flowers, plants, paths—what English speakers call a garden. If you want to say backyard or yard (an open play or utility area), Portuguese uses quintal.

  • jardim = garden
  • quintal = yard/backyard
Why isn’t there a subject pronoun ele before estuda? Can I leave pronouns out in Portuguese?
Portuguese is a pro-drop language, meaning subject pronouns (eu, tu, ele, etc.) can be omitted when the subject is clear from context or a noun phrase. Here, Meu avô already tells you who is doing the action, so ele is unnecessary. You’d add ele only for emphasis or contrast.
Can I change the word order? For example, Estuda meu avô no jardim?

The neutral order in Portuguese is Subject-Verb-Object/Complement (SVO):

  • Meu avô (subject) estuda (verb) no jardim (location).
    If you front the verb—Estuda meu avô no jardim—it sounds like a question (“Does my grandfather study in the garden?”) or poetic inversion. As a plain statement, stick with SVO for clarity.