Breakdown of Eu bebo o café na chávena pequena e limpo a boca com um guardanapo.
Questions & Answers about Eu bebo o café na chávena pequena e limpo a boca com um guardanapo.
You can drop it. Portuguese is a pro‑drop language, so the verb endings bebo/limpo already tell us the subject is eu. Both are fine:
- Eu bebo o café... (slight emphasis on “I”)
- Bebo o café... (neutral, very common)
- Bebo café = I drink coffee (in general/habitually).
- Bebo o café = I drink the coffee (a specific coffee that’s been identified).
- You may also hear partitive in European Portuguese: Bebo do café = I drink some of the coffee (from the amount available).
Na = em + a (“in/on + the,” feminine). Chávena is feminine, so:
- na chávena (fem.) but no copo (masc., em + o).
Both exist, with a nuance:
- Beber na chávena is idiomatic when talking about the container you use (how it’s served): “drink (it) in a cup.”
- Beber da chávena emphasizes the source: “drink from that cup.” Example: Prefiro cerveja no copo (served in a glass) vs Ele bebeu do copo (he sipped from the glass).
Yes. In Portugal people say chávena. In Brazil, the common word is xícara. Related words:
- copo = glass
- caneca = mug
- In Portugal, um café at a café typically means an espresso (also called uma bica in Lisbon).
Post‑nominal adjectives are the default in Portuguese:
- a chávena pequena (neutral description). Pre‑nominal is also possible (a pequena chávena) but tends to sound more marked/subjective or stylistic, highlighting the smallness.
That’s very natural in European Portuguese for actions you perform on your own body: Eu limpo‑me a boca (com um guardanapo).
Both limpo a boca and limpo‑me a boca are possible; the reflexive makes it unmistakably “my own mouth.”
In neutral affirmative clauses, EP prefers enclisis (after the verb with a hyphen): limpo‑me a boca.
With triggers like negation, it moves before the verb: Não me limpo a boca.
Yes: Eu limpo‑a com um guardanapo (I wipe it).
- a refers to a feminine singular noun (here, boca).
- In EP affirmative, it’s enclitic with a hyphen: limpo‑a.
That said, with body parts it’s more idiomatic to keep the noun or use the reflexive construction.
- com um guardanapo = with a napkin (any napkin, not specified).
- com o guardanapo = with the napkin (a particular one already known in context). You can specify material: com um guardanapo de papel / de pano.
Yes. In Portugal, both are common with drinks:
- Bebo um café / Tomo um café = I have a coffee (often an espresso). Note: In Portugal, “breakfast” is o pequeno‑almoço; tomar café normally means “have coffee (the drink),” not “have breakfast.”
Approximate guide:
- Eu: “eh‑oo”
- bebo: “BEH‑boo” (first e closed)
- o (article): often sounds like “oo”
- café: kah‑FEH (stress on last syllable)
- na: nah
- chávena: SHA‑veh‑nuh (stress on chá‑)
- pequena: pih‑KEH‑nuh (first vowel reduced)
- limpo: LEEN‑poo (first vowel nasalized slightly in fast speech)
- boca: BOH‑kuh
- guardanapo: gwar‑dah‑NAH‑poo
Keep in mind EP reduces many unstressed vowels, so you’ll often hear schwa‑like sounds.