Por onde quer que eu ande na cidade, encontro alguém a falar ao telemóvel.

Wherever I walk in the city, I find someone talking on the phone.

Breakdown of Por onde quer que eu ande na cidade, encontro alguém a falar ao telemóvel.

• eu: I
• a cidade: the city
• em: in
• encontrar: to find
• falar: to talk
• alguém: someone
• o telemóvel: the mobile phone
• andar: to walk
• por onde quer que: wherever
• ao: on

Questions & Answers about Por onde quer que eu ande na cidade, encontro alguém a falar ao telemóvel.

Why is it ande and not ando (or ando pela cidade)?

Ande is in the present subjunctive (conjuntivo), not the simple present indicative.

• Eu ando na cidade = I walk in the city (a concrete, factual statement).
• Por onde quer que eu ande na cidade = Wherever I may walk in the city (a general, open, “no matter where” idea).

The structure por onde quer que introduces an indefinite / hypothetical situation, which in Portuguese normally requires the subjunctive. That’s why you get eu ande, not eu ando.

If you used ando, it would sound ungrammatical to a native speaker in this structure.

Exactly what form is ande, and how do I form it for other verbs?

Ande is:

• Person: 1st person singular (eu)
• Tense: present subjunctive (presente do conjuntivo)
• Verb: andar

Present subjunctive is usually formed from the 1st person singular of the present indicative:

1. Take eu ando.
2. Remove -o → and-.
3. Add subjunctive endings:
   • eu ande
   • tu andes
   • ele/ela/você ande
   • nós andemos
   • vocês/eles/elas andem

Other examples:

• falar → eu fale
• comer → eu coma
• partir → eu parta

You see this mood after expressions like onde quer que, quando quer que, talvez, é possível que, etc., or in clauses that are indefinite/hypothetical like this one.

What does por onde quer que actually mean, and what is quer doing here?

Por onde quer que is a set expression meaning “wherever (I go / walk / pass)”.

Literally, you can break it down as:

• por – “through / along / by”
• onde – “where”
• quer – 3rd person singular of querer (“to want”), but here it works like “it may be / it happens to be”
• que – a connector (that)

So, very literally: “by whatever place that (I go)” → wherever I go.

In practice, you should treat onde quer que, por onde quer que, quando quer que as fixed conjunctions:

• onde quer que eu esteja – wherever I am
• quando quer que chegues – whenever you arrive
• por onde quer que eu ande – wherever I walk / wherever I go (route/path)

Is there a difference between por onde quer que eu ande and onde quer que eu ande?

Yes, a small nuance:

• onde quer que eu ande focuses more on location: wherever I may be (walking).
• por onde quer que eu ande highlights the route / path / way through the city: wherever I happen to walk / whichever way I walk through the city.

In English this nuance is often lost; both are commonly translated with “wherever I go/walk”. In Portuguese, por onde naturally suggests movement along paths/streets.

Can I drop quer and say por onde eu ande na cidade?

No, not normally. For this “no matter where” meaning, Portuguese strongly prefers the full pattern:

• onde quer que / por onde quer que

If you say por onde eu ande, it will sound odd or wrong in modern European Portuguese.

More natural alternatives with a similar meaning:

• Onde quer que eu vá na cidade, ...
• Por onde quer que eu vá na cidade, ...
• Onde quer que eu esteja na cidade, ...

Note that with vá (from ir) or esteja (from estar) you still keep the subjunctive.

How does the part alguém a falar work grammatically? Is something missing?

Alguém a falar is very natural European Portuguese. It’s like a reduced relative clause:

• Full version: encontro alguém que está a falar ao telemóvel
  (“I find someone who is talking on the mobile phone”)
• Reduced version: encontro alguém a falar ao telemóvel

So a + infinitive (a falar) here describes what that someone is doing, much like English “someone talking”.

This pattern is common in European Portuguese:

• vi um homem a correr – I saw a man running
• apanhei a criança a brincar com o telemóvel – I caught the child playing with the phone

Why is it a falar and not falando, or que fala?

In European Portuguese:

• The usual progressive form is estar a + infinitive:
  • está a falar = is talking
• The gerund (falando) is less used in everyday speech (much more common in Brazilian Portuguese).

In your sentence:

• alguém a falar = someone talking
• alguém falando would sound very Brazilian.
• alguém que fala ao telemóvel is grammatically correct, but it describes a habitual characteristic (someone who talks on the phone), not a person currently on the phone.
• alguém que está a falar ao telemóvel is fine and very clear, just a bit longer and heavier than alguém a falar ao telemóvel.

So a falar is both natural and efficient in European Portuguese to convey the ongoing action.

Why is it ao telemóvel and not no telemóvel?

Ao telemóvel = a + o telemóvel.

In European Portuguese, falar ao telefone / ao telemóvel is the standard way to say “talk on the phone / on the mobile”.

• falar ao telefone / ao telemóvel – talk on the phone (focus on the act of being on a call)
• falar no telefone / no telemóvel (= em + o) can occur, but more often suggests:
  • talking into the device itself, or
  • emphasising the physical object rather than “being on a call”.

So the most idiomatic expression for “talk on the phone” is falar ao telefone / ao telemóvel.

What exactly is telemóvel, and how does it compare to telefone or Brazilian celular?

In European Portuguese:

• telemóvel = mobile phone / cell phone
• telefone on its own usually suggests a landline, but can be used more generally as “phone” in some contexts.

In Brazilian Portuguese:

• celular = mobile/cell phone
• telefone is the neutral “phone”, and can be mobile or landline depending on context.

So your sentence uses the natural European word:

• falar ao telemóvel ≈ “to talk on one’s mobile (phone)”

Why encontro and not something like vejo? Does encontro here mean “meet” or “find”?

Encontro (from encontrar) can mean:

• to meet (intentionally or arranged)
• to run into / to come across / to find (by chance)

In your sentence, it means “come across / find”:

• Por onde quer que eu ande na cidade, encontro alguém...
  → Wherever I walk in the city, I (always) come across someone...

You could say vejo alguém a falar ao telemóvel (I see someone talking on the phone), but encontro emphasizes the idea that everywhere you go, you bump into people on their phones. It feels more like a recurring experience than just a visual observation.

Could I move na cidade to another position, like Por onde quer que na cidade eu ande?

You have some flexibility, but not every position sounds natural.

Very natural:

• Por onde quer que eu ande na cidade, encontro alguém...
• Na cidade, por onde quer que eu ande, encontro alguém...

Much less natural / odd:

• Por onde quer que na cidade eu ande, ...

In Portuguese, adverbial phrases like na cidade usually stay close to the verb they qualify or go to the start of the sentence as a frame. Inserting na cidade inside por onde quer que ... tends to disrupt the fixed expression and sounds awkward.

Does alguém ever have a plural form, like alguéns?

No. Alguém is:

• an indefinite pronoun
• always singular in standard usage.

It means “someone / somebody”. There is no regular plural:

• encontro alguém a falar ao telemóvel – I find someone talking on the phone
• encontro pessoas a falar ao telemóvel – I find people talking on the phone
• encontro toda a gente a falar ao telemóvel – I find everybody talking on the phone

You might occasionally see alguéns in very informal or creative writing, but it’s not standard and you should avoid it.