Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Ultimamente, ouço um podcast curto em português todos os dias. - Lately, I listen to a short podcast in Portuguese every day.

When it comes at the beginning of the sentence, it is very common (and stylistically preferred) to separate it with a comma:
- Ultimamente, ouço um podcast curto em português todos os dias.
If you move it inside the sentence, you normally don’t use a comma:
- Ouço ultimamente um podcast curto em português todos os dias. (sounds a bit unusual in Portuguese, though)

So the comma here is natural and good style, but in casual writing you’ll also see people omit it. It’s not a strict grammatical requirement, but it’s recommended.

Why is it ouço and not ouvir or some other form?

Ouvir is the infinitive (“to listen / to hear”).
You need the present tense, 1st person singular (“I listen”), which is eu ouço.

The present tense conjugation of ouvir (European Portuguese) is:

eu ouço – I listen / I hear
tu ouves – you (singular, informal) listen
ele / ela / você ouve – he / she / you (formal) listen
nós ouvimos – we listen
vocês ouvem – you (plural) listen
eles / elas ouvem – they listen

Ouço is slightly irregular in spelling: the ç keeps the /s/ sound before o. Without the cedilla (ouco), the c would be pronounced /k/.

Why is eu (I) not written? Could I say Eu ouço…?

In Portuguese, the verb ending already shows the person, so subject pronouns are often dropped unless you want to:

emphasize who is doing the action, or
make something clearer in context.

So:

Ouço um podcast curto… = perfectly normal and natural
Eu ouço um podcast curto… = also correct, just with a bit more emphasis on I (for example, contrasting with someone else: Eu ouço podcasts, ele vê séries.)

What’s the difference between ouço (from ouvir) and escuto (from escutar)? Could I say Escuto um podcast…?

Both ouvir and escutar can translate as “to listen” / “to hear”, and you could say:

Escuto um podcast curto em português todos os dias.

The nuance is:

ouvir is more general: “to hear, to listen to”
escutar can imply more attentive listening (like “to listen carefully”), but in everyday speech the difference is often small.

In European Portuguese, ouvir is more common in this sort of sentence about listening to media (radio, podcasts, music), so ouço sounds more natural.

Can I change the word order, like Ouço todos os dias um podcast curto em português? Is that still correct?

Yes, several word orders are grammatically correct. All of these are fine:

Ouço um podcast curto em português todos os dias. (original)
Ouço todos os dias um podcast curto em português.
Todos os dias, ouço um podcast curto em português.

The most natural versions for a neutral sentence are probably:

Todos os dias, ouço um podcast curto em português. (emphasis on the frequency)
Ultimamente, ouço um podcast curto em português todos os dias. (emphasis on “lately”)

In Portuguese, adverbial expressions like ultimamente, todos os dias, sempre, às vezes are fairly flexible in position, but moving them can slightly change what is being emphasized.

Why is it um podcast curto and not um curto podcast?

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun:

um podcast curto – a short podcast
um livro interessante – an interesting book

Some adjectives can go before the noun, but that often adds a special nuance (more emotional, poetic, or subjective) and is less neutral. For example:

um grande amigo – a great friend (emotional, not about physical size)
um pequeno problema – a small / minor problem

With curto, the neutral, everyday place is after the noun: um podcast curto.
Um curto podcast would sound marked or odd in normal speech.

Why is it um (masculine) podcast? How do I know the gender of podcast?

In Portuguese, every noun has a grammatical gender, even loanwords like podcast.

By convention, podcast is treated as masculine:
- um podcast, o podcast, podcasts interessantes

There’s no fully reliable rule for all loanwords, but many tech / media words ending in a consonant tend to be masculine:

o podcast, o smartphone, o chat, o email.

When in doubt, you usually have to look it up or copy how native speakers use it.

Why is it em português and not something like em português de Portugal?

Em português simply means “in Portuguese” – it doesn’t specify which variety.

If you want to be explicit that it’s European Portuguese, you can say:

em português de Portugal – in Portuguese from Portugal
em português europeu – in European Portuguese

In most contexts, em português is enough, and people will assume European or Brazilian Portuguese based on who you are talking to, the accent, or extra context.

Why is the present tense ouço used instead of something like tenho ouvido or estou a ouvir?

In European Portuguese:

The simple present (ouço) is very commonly used for:
- habits: Ouço podcasts todos os dias. – I listen to podcasts every day.
- things happening around now / these days, especially with ultimamente.

So:

Ultimamente, ouço um podcast curto em português todos os dias.
= Lately I (have been) listen(ing) to a short podcast in Portuguese every day.

You could also say:

Ultimamente, tenho ouvido um podcast curto em português todos os dias.
– closer to English “I have been listening”, but slightly more formal / written.
Neste momento, estou a ouvir um podcast curto em português.
– right now, I am listening to a short podcast in Portuguese.

For a habitual, recent routine, ouço with ultimamente is perfectly natural.

What’s the difference between ultimamente and recentemente?

Both can translate as “recently” / “lately”, but there’s a nuance:

ultimamente – tends to imply a period of time up to now, often with an idea of repeated or ongoing actions:
- Ultimamente, ouço um podcast… – Lately, I’ve been listening (habit).
recentemente – focuses a bit more on the recent past point in time:
- Recentemente, comecei a ouvir um podcast… – Recently, I started listening to a podcast…

In your sentence, ultimamente is more natural because we’re talking about a habit (“every day, lately”).

Why is it todos os dias and not cada dia?

Both todos os dias and cada dia could literally be “every day”, but:

todos os dias is the normal, most common way to say “every day / daily”.
cada dia is used less for simple frequency and more when you want to stress each individual day or add something extra:
- Cada dia é diferente. – Each day is different.
- A cada dia que passa… – With each passing day…

So:

Ouço um podcast curto em português todos os dias. = natural, neutral.
Ouço um podcast curto em português cada dia. = grammatically possible but sounds unusual; not how natives normally say it in this context.

Why is dias plural, when in English it’s “every day” (day in the singular)?

Portuguese uses a different structure:

todos os dias = literally “all the days”
- todos – all
- os – the (masculine plural)
- dias – days

So the noun is plural to agree with todos (“all”).
English uses “every” + singular, but Portuguese uses “all the” + plural in this expression.

Could I use diariamente instead of todos os dias?

Yes, you can:

Ultimamente, ouço diariamente um podcast curto em português.

Diariamente = “daily”.

Differences:

todos os dias – slightly more informal / conversational, very common.
diariamente – a bit more formal or written, but still perfectly natural.

In everyday speech, todos os dias is more frequent.

Is curto about physical size or time length here? Could I say pequeno instead?

In this context, curto means “short” in duration (time):

um podcast curto = a podcast that doesn’t last long, maybe a few minutes.

Pequeno usually refers to physical size or general smallness:

um livro pequeno – a small (physically small) book
uma casa pequena – a small house

You can occasionally use pequeno metaphorically for “short / small” in a more abstract sense, but for length of time, curto is the natural adjective:

um filme curto – a short film
uma reunião curta – a short meeting

How do you pronounce some of the tricky parts: Ultimamente, ouço, português?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation (not IPA):

Ultimamente: ool-chee-ma-MEN-te
- ul – like “ool” (short)
- ti – sounds like “chee”
- stress on MEN
ouço: OH-soo
- ou – like English “oh”
- ç – like “s”
- final o – like “oo” in British “foot” or closer to /u/ (short)
português: poor-too-GESH
- por – like “poor” (short)
- tu – like “too” (short)
- guês – “g” as in “go” + esh (like “eshh”); stress on guês

Also note:

um – nasal, a bit like “oon” but with air through the nose.
Final -s in dias is usually pronounced like “sh” [ʃ] in European Portuguese: DEE-ash.