Questions & Answers about Hoje tenho pouco trabalho.
Portuguese is a “pro‑drop” language: the subject pronoun is often left out because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- tenho can only mean “I have” (eu tenho), not he/she/they have.
- Because of that, saying Eu tenho is usually only needed for emphasis or contrast, e.g.
Eu tenho pouco trabalho, mas ela tem muito.
I have little work, but she has a lot.
So Hoje tenho pouco trabalho is the most natural everyday version.
Yes, Hoje eu tenho pouco trabalho is correct.
- Hoje tenho pouco trabalho – neutral, ordinary way to say it.
- Hoje eu tenho pouco trabalho – adds a light emphasis on eu, which can suggest contrast or focus, depending on context.
For example, if you are comparing yourself to others, Hoje eu tenho pouco trabalho sounds a bit more like “As for me, today I have little work.”
In Portuguese, adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- trabalho is a masculine singular noun.
- The matching form of pouco (little, not much) for masculine singular is pouco.
So:
- pouco trabalho – correct (masculine singular)
- pouca água – correct (feminine singular)
- poucos trabalhos – correct (masculine plural: “few jobs/tasks”)
- poucas horas – correct (feminine plural)
They express different ideas:
pouco trabalho
– work as an uncountable mass (like “work” in English).
– Means “not much work / little work” in general.poucos trabalhos
– trabalhos is countable: “jobs”, “pieces of work”, “assignments”, “projects”.
– Means “few jobs / few assignments / few projects”.
So:
- Hoje tenho pouco trabalho. – Today I don’t have much to do.
- Hoje tenho poucos trabalhos. – Today I only have a few specific tasks or assignments.
With uncountable nouns used in a general or indefinite sense, Portuguese often drops the article.
- Tenho pouco trabalho. – I have little work (in general, not much to do).
- Tenho muito trabalho. – I have a lot of work.
If you say o trabalho, you’re usually talking about a specific work or your job:
- O trabalho está a correr bem. – The job / my work is going well.
- Hoje, no trabalho, foi calmo. – Today, at work, it was calm.
In Hoje tenho pouco trabalho, you’re talking about the amount of work today, so no article is used.
The nuance is similar to English:
tenho pouco trabalho
– “I have little work / not much work.”
– Often sounds a bit more negative or emphasises the small amount.tenho um pouco de trabalho
– “I have a bit of work / some work.”
– More neutral; it just says you do have some work, without stressing that it’s “not much”.
So:
- Hoje tenho pouco trabalho. – Today I don’t have much to do.
- Hoje tenho um pouco de trabalho. – Today I’ve got a bit of work to do.
No, that would sound wrong.
- pouco refers to quantity: how much work.
- pequeno refers to size: something physically small.
So trabalho pequeno would literally be “small work”, which is not how you express “little/not much work” in Portuguese.
To talk about amount, you need pouco/muito:
- Tenho pouco trabalho. – I have little work.
- Tenho muito trabalho. – I have a lot of work.
In European Portuguese (Portugal), it is more natural to use ter with trabalho to talk about workload:
- Tenho muito trabalho. – I have a lot of work.
- Hoje tenho pouco trabalho. – Today I have little work.
Expressions with estar com (like estou com trabalho) are much more typical and natural in Brazilian Portuguese. In Portugal, estou com trabalho sounds unusual or at least not standard.
So for European Portuguese, prefer:
- tenho trabalho / tenho pouco trabalho / tenho muito trabalho.
Yes, Tenho pouco trabalho hoje is correct.
Portuguese allows both orders:
- Hoje tenho pouco trabalho.
- Tenho pouco trabalho hoje.
The difference is slight:
- Starting with Hoje sounds a bit more natural and common in everyday speech and puts a little more focus on today.
- Ending with hoje is also fine and fully idiomatic; it can sound slightly more neutral.
In practice, both are widely used and interchangeable.
They have completely different structures and meanings:
pouco trabalho
– pouco is an adjective describing trabalho.
– Means “little work / not much work.”trabalho pouco
– trabalho is the verb trabalhar (I work, present indicative).
– pouco is an adverb modifying the verb.
– Means “I work little / I don’t work much.”
Examples:
- Hoje tenho pouco trabalho. – Today I have little work.
- Eu trabalho pouco. – I work little / I don’t work much.