Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): O senhor pode esperar junto à passadeira, cujo sinal está avariado. - Sir, you can wait by the crosswalk, whose signal is broken.

In Portugal, o senhor is a very respectful way to say you to a man (formal singular). To a woman, use a senhora. It’s common with strangers, older people, or in customer‑service contexts.

tu = informal you (friends, family), verb in 2nd person: tu podes
você exists in Portugal but can sound blunt or overly direct; when used, it also takes 3rd‑person verbs: você pode
o senhor / a senhora take 3rd‑person verbs: O senhor pode / A senhora pode

Why is the verb in the third person (pode) if it means “you can”?

Because o senhor / a senhora / você are grammatically third‑person subjects in Portuguese. So you say:

O senhor pode
A senhora pode
Você pode
But with tu (2nd person), it’s tu podes.

Can I drop O senhor and just say Pode esperar…?

Yes. Portuguese allows subject pronoun drop. Pode esperar… is still politely addressed to the listener. You can also use a vocative:

Senhor, pode esperar… (direct address)
O senhor pode esperar… (subject pronoun; a bit more formal/explicit)

Should it be esperar por instead of just esperar?

esperar = to wait (intransitive) or to hope/expect
esperar por
- noun/pronoun = to wait for someone/something Here there’s no object stated, so esperar alone is fine. If you name the thing/person, use por:
Estou a esperar por ele.
With a noun: Estou a esperar pelo autocarro. (por + o = pelo) A neat alternative is aguardar (often used formally) and it takes a direct object:
Aguarde o autocarro.

What does junto à mean, and how is it different from perto de, ao lado de, or ao pé de?

junto a = right by/next to, slightly formal/instructional
ao lado de = right beside, very clear about adjacency
perto de = near (not necessarily right next to)
ao pé de = colloquial in Portugal for “near/by” In notices or instructions, junto a is very common.

Why is there a grave accent in à (junto à passadeira)?

It’s a contraction: a + a = à.

The first a is the preposition from junto a
The second a is the feminine article of a passadeira Other useful contractions:
a + o = ao
a + os = aos
a + as = às Don’t confuse à with há (from haver, “there is/are,” “ago”).

Why à passadeira and not na passadeira?

junto à passadeira = next to the crosswalk
na passadeira = on the crosswalk (physically on it) The sentence asks the person to wait nearby, not on it.

What does passadeira mean in Portugal? Isn’t it also “treadmill”?

Yes, passadeira has two common meanings in Portugal:

crosswalk (often passadeira de peões)
treadmill (gym equipment: passadeira de corrida) Context tells you which one. For carpet/rug, you’d say tapete.

How does cujo work? Does it agree with something?

cujo/cuja/cujos/cujas means whose and it agrees with the noun that follows it (the thing possessed), not with the possessor:

a passadeira, cujo sinal está avariado (sinal = masc. sing. → cujo)
a passadeira, cuja luz está avariada (luz = fem. sing. → cuja)
a passadeira, cujos sinais estão avariados (sinais = masc. pl. → cujos)
No article after cujo: you do not say cujo o sinal. Note: cujo is felt as formal/educated.

Could I say de que or do qual instead of cujo?

For possession, cujo is the standard elegant solution. Alternatives are possible but clunky:

Heavy: a passadeira, o sinal da qual está avariado
Better: rephrase without a relative clause:
- O sinal da passadeira está avariado.
- A passadeira tem o sinal avariado. Using de que to mark possession is not idiomatic here.

Why is there a comma before cujo? Does it change the meaning?

Yes. The comma makes it non‑restrictive (just adding extra info about the crosswalk):

With comma: identifying a specific crosswalk already in mind: “the crosswalk, whose signal is broken”
Without comma: restrictive, selecting which crosswalk among others: “the crosswalk whose signal is broken” Both are grammatical; the nuance differs.

Does sinal mean “traffic light” here? Should it be semáforo?

In Portugal, sinal is a general “sign/signal.” At crossings, the actual traffic light is semáforo (or sinal luminoso). So you might say:

… a passadeira, cujo semáforo está avariado. If you mean the audible beeper for visually impaired pedestrians, you might specify sinal sonoro.

What does avariado mean? How is it different from estragado or quebrado/partido?

avariado = out of order, malfunctioning (best for machines, devices, vehicles)
estragado = spoiled/gone bad (food), or damaged/ruined (broad)
partido = broken into pieces (physically)
quebrado = more Brazilian; in Portugal it’s understood but less used than partido/partida for physically broken For a traffic light, avariado is the idiomatic choice in Portugal.

Is Pode esperar being used as a polite command? What are other polite ways to say this?

Yes—using pode makes a request sound polite/indirect. Other polite options in Portugal:

Poderia esperar…? (more tentative)
Faça favor de esperar… / Se faz favor, espere…
É favor esperar… (very instructional)
Espere, por favor, … (formal imperative)

How would the sentence change if addressing a woman or more than one person?

To a woman: A senhora pode esperar…
To several men or a mixed group: Os senhores podem esperar…
To several women: As senhoras podem esperar…
Informal singular: Tu podes esperar… The rest of the sentence stays the same.

What is agreeing with avariado? Why not avariada?

Avariado agrees with sinal (masculine singular). If the possessed noun were feminine, you’d get avariada:

cuja luz está avariada Likewise, cujo/cuja/cujos/cujas follows the gender/number of the possessed noun.

Can I avoid cujo altogether?

Yes. Common, more neutral rewrites:

O senhor pode esperar junto à passadeira; o sinal da passadeira está avariado.
O senhor pode esperar junto à passadeira com o semáforo avariado.
Using a locative relative: … junto à passadeira onde o semáforo está avariado. (acceptable because it locates the broken signal at that crosswalk, though it’s less precise about possession than cujo)

Is junto a or junto de more common? Any regional notes?

In Portugal both junto a and junto de are used. Junto a is frequent in formal writing/signage; junto de is very common in everyday speech. In Brazil, junto a is also standard in formal contexts; junto de can more readily mean “in the presence of/with.” In Portugal, junto com exists but is less common than simply com for “together with.”