Questions & Answers about Eu leio a revista no autocarro.
You can drop Eu.
Portuguese usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.
- Eu leio a revista no autocarro. – I read the magazine on the bus.
- Leio a revista no autocarro. – Same meaning; sounds a bit more natural in many contexts.
You normally keep Eu only for emphasis or contrast:
- Eu leio a revista, tu lês o jornal. – I read the magazine, you read the newspaper.
Ler is the infinitive (to read). Leio is the first‑person singular, present tense of ler.
Present of ler (European Portuguese):
- eu leio – I read
- tu lês – you read (informal singular)
- ele / ela / você lê – he / she / you (formal) read(s)
- nós lemos – we read
- vocês leem – you (plural) read
- eles / elas leem – they read
In a full sentence with a subject, you must conjugate: Eu leio, not Eu ler.
Yes.
Portuguese often uses the simple present for both:
- Eu leio a revista no autocarro.
- general habit: I (usually) read the magazine on the bus
- current action (in the right context): I am reading the magazine on the bus
If you want to make the right now meaning very clear, you can use the progressive:
- Eu estou a ler a revista no autocarro. – I am reading the magazine on the bus (right now).
In everyday speech, context decides which meaning people hear.
A here is the definite article (the).
- a revista = the magazine (a specific one, known from context)
- uma revista = a magazine (not specific)
Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English, especially with specific objects, time expressions, and some abstract nouns.
In this sentence:
- Eu leio a revista no autocarro. – I read the magazine on the bus (one particular magazine, e.g. my subscription).
If you mean any magazine, in general, you would say:
- Eu leio uma revista no autocarro. – I read a magazine on the bus.
You would normally use the plural without an article:
- Leio revistas no autocarro. – I read magazines on the bus.
Patterns:
- Leio a revista – I read the (specific) magazine.
- Leio uma revista – I read a magazine (one, non‑specific).
- Leio revistas – I read magazines (in general).
Portuguese often drops the article when talking about things in a general, non‑specific way in the plural.
No is a contraction of the preposition em (in / on / at) + the masculine singular article o (the):
- em + o = no
- em + a = na
- em + os = nos
- em + as = nas
You cannot normally say em o autocarro in standard Portuguese; it must contract to no autocarro.
So no autocarro literally means in/on the bus.
The sentence Eu leio a revista no autocarro describes where you are physically located:
- no autocarro = on the bus (inside it)
If you want to express the means of transport (how you travel), you would usually say:
- Vou para o trabalho de autocarro. – I go to work by bus.
So:
- no autocarro – in / on the bus (location)
- de autocarro – by bus (means of transport)
Your sentence is about where you read, not how you travel.
Autocarro is the normal word for bus in European Portuguese (Portugal).
- autocarro – bus (Portugal)
- ônibus – bus (Brazil)
So:
- Portugal: Eu leio a revista no autocarro.
- Brazil: Eu leio a revista no ônibus.
The grammar is the same; only the noun changes.
You can, but it changes the emphasis and sounds more marked.
Neutral, most common order:
- Eu leio a revista no autocarro. – subject–verb–object–place
Possible, but with a different feel (emphasis on no autocarro):
No autocarro, eu leio a revista. – On the bus, I read the magazine.
Eu no autocarro leio a revista. is grammatically possible but sounds a bit unusual in everyday speech; it could appear in more literary or very expressive contexts.
For normal use, keep Eu leio a revista no autocarro.
Approximate pronunciations (European Portuguese):
leio – LAY‑oo
- two syllables: lei‑o
- ei like ay in day, then a short oo sound
revista – r(h)uh‑VEESH‑tuh
- re- like a very short ruh
- -vis- with s pronounced like sh before t
- stress on VI: reVISta
autocarro – ow‑too‑KAH‑roo
- auto: ow‑too
- carro: KAH‑hoo, with a strong, guttural rr (like a harsh h in the throat)
- stress on CAR: autoCARro
European r and rr are often stronger and more guttural than in Brazilian Portuguese.
Revista means magazine, not newspaper.
- a revista – the magazine
- o jornal – the newspaper
So:
- Eu leio a revista no autocarro. – I read the magazine on the bus.
- Eu leio o jornal no autocarro. – I read the newspaper on the bus.
Yes, but the nuance changes slightly.
Eu leio a revista no autocarro.
- can be a habit
- can also mean “I am reading…” depending on context
Estou a ler a revista no autocarro.
- clearly describes an ongoing action right now: I am reading the magazine on the bus.
In European Portuguese, estar a + infinitive is the standard way to form the present continuous. Both forms are correct; choose depending on whether you want to stress habit or right now.
You change the elements that need to agree: subject, verb, and any articles or nouns that become plural. For example:
Nós lemos a revista no autocarro. – We read the magazine on the bus.
- nós
- lemos (1st person plural verb)
- nós
Nós lemos as revistas no autocarro. – We read the magazines on the bus.
- a revista → as revistas
Lemos revistas no autocarro. – We read magazines on the bus (general).
Verb endings and articles must agree with number (singular vs plural).