Eu ando a ensaiar uma canção para o concerto de sábado.

I am rehearsing a song for Saturday’s concert.

Breakdown of Eu ando a ensaiar uma canção para o concerto de sábado.

• eu: I
• de: of
• para: for
• uma: a
• o: the
• o concerto: the concert
• a canção: the song
• andar a ensaiar: to be rehearsing
• sábado: Saturday

Questions & Answers about Eu ando a ensaiar uma canção para o concerto de sábado.

What does the construction andar a + infinitive convey in European Portuguese?

In European Portuguese, andar a + infinitive highlights an ongoing or repeated activity. It often implies you’re spending time on something right now or over a period:
• Eu ando a estudar muito = “I’ve been studying a lot lately.”
It’s more about the process than a single action.

Is ando a ensaiar the same as estou a ensaiar, or is there a difference?

Both are correct, but there’s a subtle nuance:
• estou a ensaiar focuses on what you’re doing at this exact moment (present continuous).
• ando a ensaiar underlines that you’ve been spending time rehearsing over a stretch of time (habitual or ongoing).
In casual speech they overlap, but andar a often feels more iterative.

Why is there an indefinite article in uma canção? Could I say ando a ensaiar canção?

In Portuguese, you normally need an article before countable nouns:
• uma canção = “a song.”
Saying ando a ensaiar canção without any article sounds ungrammatical. If you have a specific song in mind, you’d use the definite article: a canção.

Why do we say para o concerto de sábado instead of no concerto de sábado?

Both are possible but shift the perspective:
• ensaiar para o concerto means “rehearse in order to prepare for the concert” (purpose).
• ensaiar no concerto would mean “rehearse at/in the concert” (location), which doesn’t make sense here because you don’t rehearse during the actual show.

Why isn’t sábado capitalized in Portuguese?

In Portuguese, days of the week, months and languages are not capitalized (unlike English). So you write segunda-feira, outubro, inglês, sábado, etc., all in lowercase.

Do I have to include Eu at the beginning, or can I drop it?

You can omit the subject pronoun in Portuguese because the verb ending already tells you the subject. Both are correct:
• Eu ando a ensaiar… (emphasizes “I”)
• Ando a ensaiar… (more natural and common in conversation)

How would a Brazilian Portuguese speaker express this idea?

In Brazilian Portuguese, people typically use estar + gerúndio for ongoing actions:
• Eu estou ensaiando uma canção para o show de sábado.
They might also say Eu estou praticando uma música para o show de sábado, using praticar (to practice) and show (instead of concerto).