Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): O teu novo sobretudo é mais leve do que o meu antigo. - Your new overcoat is lighter than my old one.

In European Portuguese, it’s standard to use the definite article before a possessive pronoun. So o teu sobretudo is the normal way to say your overcoat. Omitting the article (teu sobretudo) is uncommon in Portugal and sounds either overly informal or incomplete.

What’s the difference between teu and seu?

teu is the 2nd-person singular possessive used with tu (informal “you”).
seu is the 3rd-person possessive (his/her) or the formal 2nd-person singular with você.
In Portugal, when you address someone as tu, you pair it with teu. Using seu here would imply either a different person (he/she) or the formal register.

What does sobretudo mean here? Is it a false friend with “especially”?

Here sobretudo means “overcoat” (a long, warm coat). It’s not related to “especially.” Although Brazilian Portuguese sometimes uses sobretudo as an adverb meaning “above all”, in Portugal sobretudo almost always refers to the garment. If you wanted “especially” in European Portuguese, you’d use sobretudo as an adverb only in very literary contexts; normally you’d say principalmente.

Why are novo and antigo in the masculine form?

Adjectives in Portuguese agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Sobretudo is a masculine singular noun, so its adjectives are also masculine singular: novo and antigo. If you spoke about a feminine noun (e.g. camisola), you’d say camisola nova.

Why does novo come before sobretudo? I thought adjectives usually come after the noun.

Portuguese allows adjectives both before and after the noun. Placing novo before sobretudo (as in o teu novo sobretudo) gives a natural, idiomatic feel—especially with short, common adjectives like novo, velho, grande. Putting the adjective after the noun (o teu sobretudo novo) is still correct but can sound more formal or emphatic.

How do we form comparatives like mais leve do que?

Comparatives of inequality in Portuguese follow this pattern:
mais + adjective + do/de + noun/pronoun + que
So mais leve do que literally means “more light than” → “lighter than.”
If the noun or pronoun is masculine singular, you get do (de + o); feminine singular gives da (de + a).

Why is it do que and not just de que?

Here do is the contraction of de + o, referring back to o meu antigo sobretudo. Grammatically, you’re comparing to o (the) coat, so de + o + que → do que. Simply saying de que (without the article) is sometimes heard colloquially or in Brazil, but in European Portuguese mais leve do que is the preferred, “correct” form.

Why can we omit sobretudo after o meu antigo?

Portuguese often drops a repeated noun when its reference is clear. Saying o meu antigo instead of o meu antigo sobretudo avoids redundancy. Listeners infer that o meu antigo means your old overcoat previously mentioned.

Could we say velho instead of antigo? What’s the difference?

Yes, you could say o meu sobretudo velho, but there’s a nuance:

velho emphasizes age or wear (“worn-out,” “old”).
antigo emphasizes the idea of “former” or “previous.”
In this context, antigo likely means “the one I had before”, regardless of how worn it is.

Why is sobretudo one word and not sobre tudo?

As a noun meaning “overcoat,” sobretudo is always a single word. Written as two words (sobre tudo), it would normally function as an adverbial phrase meaning “on top of everything” or “above all,” which is not the sense here.