Tem cuidado nas escadas para não te magoares.

Be careful on the stairs so you don't hurt yourself.

Breakdown of Tem cuidado nas escadas para não te magoares.

• não: not
• em: on
• te: you
• a escada: the staircase
• para: in order
• ter cuidado: to be careful
• magoar-se: to hurt

Questions & Answers about Tem cuidado nas escadas para não te magoares.

Why is it tem cuidado and not tens cuidado?

In European Portuguese, the affirmative imperative for tu (you, singular, informal) is usually formed from the present indicative of tu, without the final -s.

• Present indicative of ter:
  eu tenho, tu tens, ele/ela tem
• Imperative for tu:
  take tens, remove -s → tem

So:

• Tem cuidado. = Be careful. (imperative, giving an order/advice)
• Tu tens cuidado. = You are careful / You take care. (a statement, not a command)

Using tens cuidado in this context would sound like a statement about a habit, not an instruction.

Is tem cuidado informal or polite? How is it different from tenha cuidado?

Tem cuidado is informal, addressed to tu (a friend, a child, a family member, someone your own age, etc.).

Tenha cuidado is more formal/polite, addressed to você, o senhor, a senhora, or to someone you want to keep distance from (customer, stranger, older person you don’t know well, etc.).

In European Portuguese:

• Tem cuidado nas escadas. → talking to one person you treat as “tu”.
• Tenham cuidado nas escadas. → talking to several people (vocês) informally.
• Tenha cuidado nas escadas. → talking politely to one person (você / o senhor / a senhora).
• Tenham cuidado nas escadas. → also works as polite plural (senhores / senhoras).

So the sentence you gave is clearly addressed to one person in a familiar context.

What exactly does ter cuidado mean? Is it literally “to have care”?

Literally, ter cuidado means “to have care”, but idiomatically it corresponds to “to be careful / to take care / to watch out”.

Common patterns:

• Ter cuidado com algo/alguém
  
  • Tem cuidado com as escadas. – Be careful with the stairs.
• Ter cuidado em / ao fazer algo
  
  • Tem cuidado ao descer as escadas. – Be careful going down the stairs.

In your sentence, Tem cuidado nas escadas is a very natural way to say “Be careful on the stairs” in European Portuguese.

Why do we say nas escadas and not na escada?

Two points here: the preposition and the plural.

1. Preposition: em + as = nas

   • em (in/on/at) + as (feminine plural “the”) → nas
     So nas escadas = “on the stairs” / “on the staircase”.

2. Plural “escadas”
   In Portuguese, escadas is normally used in the plural to mean a set of steps / a staircase.

   • as escadas = the stairs / the staircase
   • a escada (singular) often means a ladder, not a staircase.

So:

• Tem cuidado nas escadas. – Be careful on the stairs.
• Tem cuidado na escada. – More likely: Be careful on the ladder. (can be staircase in some contexts, but less typical)

What form is magoares? Why not magoes, magoar, or magoo?

Magoares is the personal infinitive (infinitivo pessoal), 2nd person singular (tu) of magoar.

The personal infinitive of magoar is:

• (eu) magoar
• (tu) magoares
• (ele/ela) magoar
• (nós) magoarmos
• (vós) magoardes (very rare in modern speech)
• (eles/elas) magoarem

It’s used because after para, Portuguese often uses either:

• personal infinitive: para não te magoares
  → “so that you don’t hurt yourself”
• or para que + present subjunctive: para que não te magoes

The alternatives you mentioned have different uses:

• magoes → present subjunctive (tu): used in para que não te magoes.
• magoar (bare infinitive) → para não te magoar would usually mean “so I don’t hurt you” (I am the subject, you are the object).
• magoo → present indicative (eu); not correct here.

So para não te magoares clearly keeps “you” (tu) as the subject of the action: so that you don’t hurt yourself.

Why do we need the pronoun te in não te magoares?

Because the verb magoar-se is reflexive when you mean “to hurt oneself”.

• magoar alguém – to hurt someone else
  
  • Ele magoou o irmão. – He hurt his brother.
• magoar-se – to hurt oneself
  
  • Ele magoou-se. – He hurt himself.

For tu, the reflexive pronoun is te:

• tu magoas-te – you hurt yourself
• para não te magoares – so that you don’t hurt yourself

Without te, magoares would normally be understood as hurting someone else (object not mentioned), which is not the intended meaning here.

Why is the pronoun before the verb (te magoares) instead of after it (magoares-te)?

Portuguese has specific rules for where unstressed pronouns (me, te, se, o, a, lhe, nos, vos, etc.) go.

In your example, the key trigger is the negative word “não”.

• With não, pronouns normally go before the verb (proclisis):
  • não te magoares (correct)
  • não magoares-te (incorrect in standard Portuguese)

General idea in European Portuguese:

• After a simple infinitive or affirmative imperative, the pronoun tends to go after and attached (enclisis):
  
  • magoar-te, magoa-te
• With não and certain other words (como, quem, se, etc.), the pronoun goes before the verb:
  
  • não te magoes, não te magoares

So para não te magoares obeys the normal rule: negative → pronoun before the verb.

Can I say para não magoares-te or para não te magoar instead?

• Para não magoares-te – incorrect in standard Portuguese.
  With não, the pronoun must come before the verb: para não te magoares.

• Para não te magoar – grammatically correct but usually has a different subject:

  • Typically means: “so (that) I don’t hurt you” (I = subject, you = object).
  • para não te magoares means: “so that you don’t hurt yourself” (you = subject and object, with reflexive te).

So if you want to keep the original meaning (you might hurt yourself on the stairs), para não te magoares is the right choice.

Could we also say para que não te magoes? What’s the difference from para não te magoares?

Yes, you can say para que não te magoes. Both are correct but slightly different grammatically and stylistically:

• para não te magoares

  • uses personal infinitive (magoares)
  • common, very natural in European Portuguese, especially in speech
  • a bit more neutral, straightforward

• para que não te magoes

  • uses present subjunctive (magoes)
  • slightly more formal or bookish
  • more typical in written language or more elaborate speech

In everyday conversation in Portugal, para não te magoares is probably more frequent in this type of warning.

How would this sentence typically be said in Brazilian Portuguese?

A very natural Brazilian version would change both vocabulary and pronouns:

• Tome cuidado na escada para não se machucar.
  or (more informal):
• Toma cuidado na escada pra você não se machucar.

Key differences:

• tem cuidado (EP) → tome cuidado / toma cuidado (BP)
• nas escadas often becomes na escada in BP (they more often use the singular there)
• magoar-se (EP everyday) often becomes machucar-se in BP in this context
• EP often uses tu / te / magoares; BP often uses você / se / machucar

But your original sentence is perfectly idiomatic European Portuguese.

Can we move nas escadas to the end and say Tem cuidado para não te magoares nas escadas? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

• Tem cuidado nas escadas para não te magoares.
• Tem cuidado para não te magoares nas escadas.

Both are correct and mean essentially the same thing.

Very slight nuance:

• nas escadas earlier: first frames the place where the danger is.
• nas escadas at the end: first gives the warning and reason, then specifies the place.

In practice, both word orders sound natural, and native speakers will not feel a real difference in meaning.