Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Onde quer que estudes, tenta desligar o telemóvel por uma hora. - Wherever you study, try to turn off your phone for an hour.

Onde quer que estudes = wherever you (might) study → uncertain / variable place → subjunctive (estudes)
Onde estudas = where you study (in general) → factual statement → indicative (estudas)

So after onde quer que, you must use the present subjunctive, not the indicative.

What exactly does onde quer que mean, and how is it different from just onde?

Onde quer que is a fixed expression meaning “wherever”. It implies any place, not a specific one.

Onde estudas? – Where do you study? (asks for a specific place)
Onde quer que estudes, tenta desligar o telemóvel… – Wherever you study, try to turn off your phone… (it doesn’t matter which place)

You can’t simply split it up or change the mood:

✅ onde quer que estudes
❌ onde quer que estudas
❌ onde quer estudes

It’s a set structure: onde quer que + subjunctive.

How do I know estudes refers to tu (you, singular informal)?

Estudes is the present subjunctive form of estudar for tu:

Present subjunctive of estudar:

(eu) estude
(tu) estudes
(ele / ela / você) estude
(nós) estudemos
(vocês / eles / elas) estudem

So in onde quer que estudes, the implied subject is tu. Portuguese normally drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the person clear.

Who is the subject of quer in onde quer que estudes? Why not onde queiras que estudes?

In onde quer que estudes, quer is part of a fixed idiom, not a normal “want” verb with a clear subject. You don’t interpret it as someone wants that….

Think of onde quer que as one inseparable unit meaning “wherever”. The quer stays in the 3rd person singular:

✅ onde quer que estudes
❌ onde queiras que estudes

You don’t conjugate quer to match any visible subject here; you just learn onde quer que + subjunctive as a chunk.

Why is it tenta and not tente? What’s the difference?

Tenta is the informal singular “tu” imperative (European Portuguese), and tente is the formal / polite imperative (based on você).

Tenta desligar o telemóvel… – Try to turn off your phone… (to a friend, family member, someone you’re on tu terms with)
Tente desligar o telemóvel… – same idea, but addressed formally (você / o senhor / a senhora)

In European Portuguese, the affirmative imperative for tu usually uses the 3rd person singular indicative form:

tu tentas → imperative: tenta
tu falas → imperative: fala
tu comes → imperative: come

So tenta here clearly talks to tu.

Can I add tu and say Onde quer que tu estudes, tenta…? Is that more correct?

You can add tu, and it’s grammatically fine:

Onde quer que tu estudes, tenta desligar o telemóvel…

The difference is only emphasis:

Without tu: neutral, natural, very typical.
With tu: adds a bit of emphasis or contrast (e.g. wherever *you study, as opposed to others*).

In everyday speech and writing, Portuguese normally omits the subject pronoun unless there is a specific reason to stress it.

Why is it o telemóvel and not o teu telemóvel? Is it wrong to add teu?

Both are possible:

desligar o telemóvel
desligar o teu telemóvel

In contexts like this, o telemóvel is naturally understood as your phone. Portuguese often uses the bare noun with o / a for possessions when it’s obvious whose thing it is:

Lava as mãos. – Wash (your) hands.
Põe o casaco. – Put on (your) coat.

So o telemóvel already sounds normal and not ambiguous. Adding teu is clear and correct but can feel slightly more explicit: desligar o teu telemóvel.

Why is it por uma hora and not durante uma hora or para uma hora?

In this sentence:

por uma hora and durante uma hora both work and mean “for an hour” (duration).

Nuances:

por uma hora – often used and very natural in speech.
durante uma hora – a bit more explicit/neutral; also very common.

Para uma hora is normally not used for duration here; it tends to mean “for (the time of) one o’clock” or “for one hour from now” in a scheduling sense, not “for the length of an hour”:

Marquei a consulta para uma hora. – I booked the appointment for one o’clock.

So for duration in this sentence, use por / durante uma hora, not para uma hora.

What’s the difference between telemóvel, telefone, and celular?

telemóvel – standard word for mobile phone / cell phone in European Portuguese.
telefone – general “telephone”; could be mobile or landline, depending on context.
celular or telefone celular – common in Brazilian Portuguese; not the usual choice in Portugal.

So in Portugal, desligar o telemóvel is the natural way to say turn off your phone (meaning mobile).

Could I say desligar o telefone instead of desligar o telemóvel?

You can, but the nuance changes:

desligar o telemóvel – specifically your mobile phone (most natural here).
desligar o telefone – could mean disconnecting a telephone in general (fixed line or mobile, depending on context), but in modern European Portuguese it often suggests a landline if there’s no further context.

Given the everyday study context, telemóvel is the most precise and natural word.

Why desligar and not apagar for “turn off”?

Both verbs can appear with devices, but the default for turning off devices like phones, TVs, computers is usually desligar:

desligar o telemóvel / a televisão / o computador

Apagar is more common with lights, fire, or something that is “lit”:

apagar a luz – turn off the light
apagar o cigarro – put out the cigarette
apagar o fogo – put out the fire

People do sometimes say apagar o telemóvel, but desligar o telemóvel is more neutral and standard.

Can I say Tenta desligar o telemóvel por uma hora, onde quer que estudes (putting the clause at the end)?

It’s grammatically correct, but sounds less natural and a bit awkward.

Onde quer que estudes, tenta desligar o telemóvel por uma hora. – very natural order: condition/context first, then the instruction.
Tenta desligar o telemóvel por uma hora, onde quer que estudes. – understandable, but the final clause feels slightly tacked on.

In Portuguese, placing the onde quer que… clause at the beginning is the most idiomatic choice here.

Is there any situation where Onde quer que estudas (indicative) would be correct?

No. With onde quer que you must use the subjunctive:

✅ Onde quer que estudes…
❌ Onde quer que estudas…

If you switch to the indicative estudas, you need to change the structure:

Onde estudas? – Where do you study?
Onde estudas, desligas sempre o telemóvel? – Where you study, do you always turn off your phone? (a different, more unusual meaning)

But for the meaning “wherever you study”, the only correct pattern is onde quer que + subjunctive.