Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Põe pouco mel e pouca cebola: a quantidade certa melhora a qualidade da salada. - Put little honey and little onion: the right amount improves the quality of the salad.

Yes. Põe is the affirmative imperative for informal second person singular (tu). In formal address (você), use Ponha. Plurals: Ponde (rare, with vós) or more commonly Ponham (vocês). In the negative, the form switches to the present subjunctive: Não ponhas (tu), Não ponha (você). In Portugal, recipes and casual instructions often use the tu form.

Why is it "pouco mel" but "pouca cebola"?

Because pouco/pouca agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Mel is masculine (o mel) → pouco mel. Cebola is feminine (a cebola) → pouca cebola. For plurals, use poucos/poucas.

Can I say "poucos mel" or "poucas mel"?

No. Mel is an uncountable mass noun, so you keep it singular and use pouco mel.

What’s the difference between "pouca cebola" and "poucas cebolas"?

Pouca cebola: a small amount of onion (as an ingredient, chopped/sliced).
Poucas cebolas: few onions as countable units (e.g., whole onions).

Can I use "um pouco de" instead of "pouco/pouca"?

Yes. Põe um pouco de mel e um pouco de cebola is very natural. Nuance: pouco/pouca can imply “not much/too little,” while um pouco de sounds more neutral. In Portugal you’ll also hear the informal um bocadinho de.

Why "a quantidade certa" instead of just "quantidade certa"?

Portuguese often uses the definite article to speak generically. A quantidade certa = “the right amount” as a general concept. Without the article, it’s less idiomatic here.

Does "certa" mean "right" here? How is "a quantidade certa" different from "certa quantidade"?

Yes, certa here means “right/appropriate” and follows the noun: a quantidade certa. If you put it before the noun—certa quantidade—it means “a certain/some amount.”

What does "da" in "da salada" mean? Could I say "de salada"?

Da is the contraction of de + a = “of the.” A qualidade da salada = “the quality of the salad.” De salada (without the article) has a classifier feel (“of salad,” as in types), so use da here.

How do I pronounce the tricky parts?

Põe: nasal diphthong õe, roughly “poyn” (nasalized “oy”).
mel: “meh” plus a dark L.
cebola: se-BO-la (soft c = s).
melhora: mel-YO-ra (lh = palatal “ly”; single r between vowels is a tap).
salada: sa-LA-da (final a often reduces to a schwa-like sound in European Portuguese). The tilde in põe (õ) marks nasalization.

Why the colon after "cebola"? Could I use something else?

The colon introduces an explanation or justification. You could also use a semicolon, a dash, or a conjunction: … porque/pois a quantidade certa melhora…

Is "melhora" the right form? Could it be "melhorar"?

Melhora is the present indicative (3rd person singular) of melhorar: “improves.” You can’t use the infinitive melhorar there. You could also say A quantidade certa melhora a salada, but mentioning a qualidade is more explicit.

Is "põe" spelled with a tilde or circumflex? And what about "pôr" vs "por"?

Põe has a tilde on the o (õ) to show nasalization.
The infinitive is pôr (with circumflex) to distinguish it from the preposition por (“by/through/for”).

Could I use "meter" or "colocar" instead of "pôr"?

Yes. In Portugal, meter is very common in everyday speech: Mete pouco mel… (formal: Meta…). Colocar is also fine, slightly more neutral/formal. All work in a recipe.

Where do object pronouns go with imperatives like this?

In affirmative imperatives, pronouns attach to the end (enclisis): Põe-o na salada (“Put it in the salad”). In the negative, they go before the verb and the verb switches to the present subjunctive: Não o ponhas na salada. For você: Ponha-o / Não o ponha.

Do I need to repeat "pouco/pouca"? Could I omit the second one?

You can say Põe pouco mel e cebola, but then only the honey is clearly limited; the onion is ambiguous. Repeating (pouca cebola) makes the instruction unambiguous.