Questions & Answers about Eu estudo português com a Ana.
Yes. In Portuguese, the subject pronoun is often dropped because the verb ending (estudo) already tells you it is I (first person singular).
- Eu estudo português com a Ana. – perfectly correct; a bit more explicit or emphatic.
- Estudo português com a Ana. – very natural, especially in everyday speech and writing.
You usually keep Eu if you want to emphasize I in contrast with someone else, e.g. Eu estudo, mas o meu irmão não estuda.
Portuguese uses the simple present much more than English to talk about things that are happening now or around now.
- Eu estudo português com a Ana.
- Can mean: I study Portuguese with Ana (as a general fact / regularly).
- Can also cover I am studying Portuguese with Ana (these days / this term).
If you really want to stress the action right now, European Portuguese prefers:
- Eu estou a estudar português com a Ana. – I am (in the process of) studying Portuguese with Ana.
Both are grammatically correct; the simple present estudo is very common and not “wrong” even when English uses the progressive.
Estudar is a regular -ar verb. In the present tense:
- eu estudo – I study
- tu estudas – you study (informal singular)
- ele / ela / você estuda – he / she / you (formal) study
- nós estudamos – we study
- vocês estudam – you (plural) study
- eles / elas estudam – they study
In Eu estudo português com a Ana, the subject is eu, so the correct form is estudo.
In Portuguese, names of languages are written with a lowercase initial letter:
- português, inglês, francês, espanhol, alemão
Nationalities used as adjectives or nouns for people are also lowercase:
- um português – a Portuguese man
- uma portuguesa – a Portuguese woman
They are only capitalized when part of a proper name (e.g. Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga). So português is lowercase in Eu estudo português com a Ana.
The accent mark in português (the ê) shows:
- Stress position – the main stress is on the last syllable: por-tu-GUÊS.
- Vowel quality – ê is a closed e sound, similar to the vowel in English “say”, but shorter and without the glide.
So roughly: por-tu-GÊS (with a final -sh sound in European Portuguese).
Without the accent, the pronunciation and stress could be ambiguous, so the accent tells you where to stress and how to say the vowel.
With names of languages used in a general way after verbs like estudar, falar, aprender, Portuguese normally does not use the definite article:
- Estudo português. – I study Portuguese.
- Falo inglês. – I speak English.
- Aprendemos francês. – We are learning French.
You can use o português in some contexts, but then it tends to sound more specific or contrastive, e.g.:
- O português é uma língua românica. – Portuguese is a Romance language.
- O português de Portugal é diferente do português do Brasil.
In your sentence, the natural form is Eu estudo português com a Ana.
Here, a is the feminine singular definite article (“the”), not the preposition a (“to / at / in some uses”).
- Ana – a female name
- a Ana – literally “the Ana,” but in European Portuguese it is very common to put the article before people’s first names.
So:
- com a Ana = with Ana (natural translation), grammatically “with the Ana”.
In English we do not say “the Ana”, but in European Portuguese a Ana, o João etc. are normal and sound friendly and natural.
In European Portuguese, using the definite article with first names is very common, especially in spoken, informal, and semi‑formal contexts:
- A Ana estuda português.
- Vou falar com o João.
However, the article can be:
- Omitted in more formal or written contexts, especially in official lists, documents, academic writing, news headlines:
- Ana Silva estudou em Coimbra.
- Variable, depending on region and personal style. Some speakers use it almost always; others drop it more.
So both Ana and a Ana are possible, but in a sentence like yours, com a Ana is the most typical European Portuguese choice.
With the definite articles o, a, os, as, com does not form written contractions:
- com o João – with João
- com a Ana – with Ana
- com os alunos – with the students
However, com does have special forms with personal pronouns:
- com mim → comigo – with me
- com ti (old) / contigo – with you (informal singular)
- com nós → connosco – with us
- com vós (old) / convosco – with you (plural)
So com a Ana stays exactly like that; there is no standard contraction.
In Eu estudo português com a Ana, português is a noun meaning the Portuguese language.
- It is masculine singular, because in Portuguese the word for the language is grammatically masculine.
- Its gender does not change depending on who is speaking; a woman will still say Eu estudo português.
As an adjective:
- um livro português – a Portuguese book (masculine singular)
- uma cidade portuguesa – a Portuguese city (feminine singular)
- uns alunos portugueses – some Portuguese students (masc. plural)
- umas empresas portuguesas – some Portuguese companies (fem. plural)
So the form of português changes to agree with the noun when it’s an adjective, but as the name of the language it just stays português.
The most natural word order is the one you have:
- Eu estudo português com a Ana. – Subject–Verb–Object–(complement)
Some variations are technically possible but sound odd or very marked:
- Eu estudo com a Ana português. – sounds unnatural in normal speech.
- Português, eu estudo com a Ana. – possible, but only with special emphasis on português, like a contrast or topic: As for Portuguese, I study it with Ana.
For everyday, neutral sentences, keep: Eu estudo português com a Ana.