Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Ultimamente a Maria bebe chá em vez de café. - Lately Maria drinks tea instead of coffee.

In European Portuguese it’s very common to put the definite article before personal names. So a Maria literally means “the Maria,” but it doesn’t sound odd to a Portuguese speaker. Brazilian Portuguese often drops it, but in Portugal you’ll hear o Paulo, a Catarina, etc.

Shouldn’t Ultimamente have an accent on the u?

Yes. The correct spelling is Últimamente (with an acute accent on the U), even at the start of a sentence. The accent marks the stressed syllable: Úl-ti-ma-men-te.

Why is Últimamente placed at the beginning of the sentence? Could I move it?

Starting with Últimamente emphasizes the time frame (“Lately”). You can also say A Maria, ultimamente, bebe chá em vez de café, or A Maria ultimamente bebe chá…, but that slightly shifts the focus onto Maria first. Word order in Portuguese is fairly flexible for adverbs like this.

Why is the simple present bebe used instead of a continuous form like está bebendo?

In Portuguese, the simple present often conveys habitual or repeated actions (“she drinks tea regularly”). Use está bebendo only if you mean “she is drinking tea right now.”

What does em vez de mean, and is there another way to say it?

Em vez de means instead of. A synonym is em lugar de. Many speakers also say ao invés de, but purists argue ao invés de should be reserved for expressing opposites (e.g. “the opposite of”), not simple substitution.

Why is there no article before chá and café? Could I say o chá or o café?

Chá (tea) and café (coffee) are uncountable/general nouns here, so articles are dropped when speaking about them in general. If you wanted a specific cup you could say bebe o chá or bebe um chá, but it changes the meaning to “the tea” or “a tea” rather than tea in general.

Could the sentence be bebe chá em vez de beber café?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct and even clearer: bebe chá em vez de beber café. Portuguese allows you to repeat the verb to avoid ambiguity, but it can also be omitted if context is clear.

Why doesn’t beber need a preposition before its object chá?

Beber is a transitive verb in Portuguese, so it takes a direct object without a preposition. You simply say bebe chá, just like come pão (“eats bread”), not em pão or something else.

Is there any nuance between em vez de and ao invés de?

Colloquially many speakers treat them as interchangeable. However, traditional grammar advice says:

Use em vez de for substitutions (“instead of coffee”).
Reserve ao invés de for true opposites (“in opposition to”).

Sticking with em vez de for everyday use is safest.