Breakdown of Hoje a preguiça impede-me de estudar para o exame.
Questions & Answers about Hoje a preguiça impede-me de estudar para o exame.
Here a is the definite article (feminine singular), not the preposition a.
- a preguiça = the laziness
- preguiça on its own would just be “laziness” in a more general sense.
In Portuguese (especially in European Portuguese), abstract nouns often take the definite article, even when English doesn’t use the:
- A preguiça é um problema. = “Laziness is a problem.”
- A vida é curta. = “Life is short.”
So Hoje a preguiça impede-me… is literally “Today the laziness stops me…”, but in natural English we just say “Today laziness stops me…”.
It’s not saying “to laziness” or “at laziness”; it’s simply the before a feminine noun.
This is about where unstressed object pronouns like me go in European Portuguese.
- When the pronoun comes after the verb, it is attached with a hyphen:
- impede + me → impede-me
This pattern (pronoun after the verb) is called ênclise (enclisis) and is very common and considered “standard” in European Portuguese in neutral sentences like this.
Placing the pronoun before the verb (me impede) is called próclise (proclisis). In European Portuguese, proclisis is strongly preferred only when something attracts it, such as:
- Não me impede… (negation)
- Quem me impede…? (question word)
- Que me impede…? (relative pronoun que)
With a simple adverb like Hoje at the beginning, European Portuguese tends to use impede-me in writing. Brazilian Portuguese, on the other hand, would normally say:
- Hoje a preguiça me impede de estudar…
So: in European Portuguese, impede-me is the more natural, “textbook” choice here.
Use the hyphen when an unstressed object pronoun (like me, te, se, o, a, nos, vos, lhes) attaches directly to the verb:
- impede-me (impedir + me)
- ajuda-me (ajudar + me)
- diz-me (dizer + me)
- levantar-te (levantar + te)
General rules:
- Pronoun after the verb → attach with hyphen:
- Ele viu-me. – “He saw me.”
- Pronoun before the verb → no hyphen:
- Ele me viu. (Brazilian default; in EP only with triggers like negation, etc.)
In infinitives, past participles (in some structures), and imperative forms, you will also see this attachment:
- estudar-te
- ajuda-me!
- tinha-me esquecido (in EP; here it can also be written separately depending on register).
In the sentence given, impede-me is a finite verb + clitic pronoun, so the hyphen is mandatory.
The verb impedir in Portuguese usually follows this pattern:
impedir alguém de fazer alguma coisa
= prevent/stop someone from doing something
So the preposition de is required before the infinitive:
- impedir alguém de sair – prevent someone from leaving
- impedir alguém de falar – stop someone from speaking
- impedir-me de estudar – stop me from studying
Without de, the sentence sounds wrong to native speakers:
- ❌ impede-me estudar
- ✅ impede-me de estudar
In English, we also use from with some verbs: prevent me *from studying. In Portuguese, *de plays the role of that “from” here.
No, not with impedir in this meaning.
- impedir alguém de fazer is the correct, fixed pattern.
- impedir alguém a fazer or impedir alguém para fazer are not standard and sound incorrect.
If you want to use para, the structure changes and the meaning shifts a bit. For example:
- impede-me de me preparar para o exame
= stops me from preparing for the exam
Here para o exame is separate from impedir de; it expresses purpose/goal, not the verb’s complement.
In Portuguese, when talking about studying in preparation for an exam, the usual pattern is:
- estudar para o exame
= study for the exam (with the idea of preparing for it)
estudar o exame would be odd: you don’t “study the exam” itself; you study the material/content for the exam. So:
- de estudar para o exame
= from studying for the exam
Compare:
- estudar matemática para o exame – study maths for the exam
- estudar para o teste – study for the test
Portuguese uses definite articles much more than English, even with general or known things.
- para o exame literally = “for the exam”
Typical usage:
- Vou estudar para o exame. – I’m going to study for the exam.
- Tenho de me preparar para o teste. – I need to prepare for the test.
You can drop the article sometimes (e.g. in very generic phrases like estudar para exame as a kind of label or title), but in normal sentences para o exame is the natural choice.
Compare:
- English: “I’m going to the doctor.”
- Portuguese: Vou ao médico. (a + o médico) – article kept.
Portuguese often prefers nouns plus verbs like ter or estar com to express temporary states or feelings:
- ter preguiça / estar com preguiça = to feel lazy
- ter fome = to be hungry
- ter sede = to be thirsty
- ter sono = to be sleepy
In your sentence, a preguiça is almost being personified, like “laziness” as a force that has power over you:
- Hoje a preguiça impede-me de estudar…
= “Today laziness stops me from studying…”
You could say:
- Hoje estou preguiçoso e não estudo para o exame.
(Today I’m lazy and I’m not studying for the exam.)
…but estou preguiçoso is less common in informal speech than estou com preguiça:
- Hoje estou com preguiça de estudar para o exame.
The original sentence is slightly more “literary” or playful because it treats a preguiça as if it were an agent doing the action.
Yes, you can move hoje as a time adverb; the meaning stays the same, only the emphasis changes a bit.
Possible positions:
- Hoje a preguiça impede-me de estudar para o exame.
(neutral, very common) - A preguiça hoje impede-me de estudar para o exame.
(slight emphasis on it is today that laziness is doing this) - A preguiça impede-me hoje de estudar para o exame.
(less common, but possible; hoje is emphasized as the time when this happens)
All of these are grammatically correct in European Portuguese.
No, not with the meaning “laziness stops me from studying”.
- impedir alguém de fazer algo = to prevent someone from doing something
- A preguiça impede-me de estudar. – Laziness stops me from studying.
The me refers to the person speaking; it’s not reflexive in this sentence.
A reflexive use would be:
- Eu impeço-me de fazer isso.
= I stop myself from doing that.
Here me and eu refer to the same person (reflexive). In your sentence, a preguiça and me are different: laziness (subject) is stopping me (object), not laziness stopping itself.
They would probably adjust a few things to more typical Brazilian Portuguese patterns:
- Hoje a preguiça me impede de estudar para a prova.
Main differences:
Pronoun position:
- EP: impede-me (enclisis very common)
- BR: me impede (proclisis is the default almost everywhere)
Word for “exam/test”:
- EP: o exame (most common word)
- BR: a prova is very common in school/university contexts
(though exame exists too, with some specific uses)
Intonation and rhythm would also sound clearly Brazilian vs European.
But grammatically, the structure impedir alguém de fazer alguma coisa is the same in both varieties.