Breakdown of Hoje em dia quase todos estudam com o computador.
Questions & Answers about Hoje em dia quase todos estudam com o computador.
In European Portuguese, subject pronouns (eu, tu, ele, nós, etc.) are usually dropped when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- Estudam is the 3rd person plural (they) form of estudar.
- So quase todos estudam already tells you they study, without needing eles.
You would only add eles for emphasis or contrast, for example:
- Hoje em dia, eles quase todos estudam com o computador, mas nós não.
(Nowadays, *they almost all study with the computer, but we don’t.*)
Hoje em dia means nowadays / these days, referring to the general time we live in, not literally today.
- hoje em dia = nowadays, in our time
- agora = now, at this moment
- atualmente = currently, at present (often a bit more formal)
So:
Hoje em dia quase todos estudam com o computador.
Nowadays almost everybody studies with a computer.Agora estou cansado.
I’m tired now (at this moment).
Very often in everyday speech, hoje em dia and atualmente are interchangeable, but hoje em dia is more colloquial and common.
Quase todos literally means almost all (of them).
The implied noun is usually as pessoas (people) or os alunos (students), depending on context:
- Hoje em dia quase todos (os alunos/as pessoas) estudam com o computador.
It’s masculine plural because in Portuguese:
- When talking about a mixed group (men and women), the masculine plural is used by default.
- If it were only women, you could say quase todas:
- Hoje em dia quase todas estudam com o computador. (only female group)
Without extra context, quase todos is understood as “almost everyone / almost all people (in general)”.
Yes, word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatically correct; the differences are subtle in emphasis:
- Hoje em dia quase todos estudam com o computador.
- Quase todos hoje em dia estudam com o computador.
- Quase todos estudam com o computador hoje em dia.
The first and third versions are the most natural in everyday speech. The meaning remains essentially the same: Nowadays, almost everybody studies with a computer.
Com here means using / with the help of:
- estudar com o computador = to study using the computer / with a computer
No computador (em + o) usually suggests on the computer / on the device itself, tending to focus more on the location or medium:
- Eles fazem os trabalhos no computador.
They do their assignments on the computer.
You could say:
- Hoje em dia quase todos estudam no computador.
That would be understood, but com o computador emphasizes the computer as a tool they use to study, not just a place where the files are.
In European Portuguese, using the definite article (o, a, os, as) with singular countable nouns is very common, even in a general sense:
- com o computador = with the computer (in general, as a tool humans use)
- com computador without the article sounds incomplete or unusual here.
You can drop the article mainly in set expressions or after some verbs/prepositions, but with com + a concrete object used in a general, habitual way, the article is usually kept.
So com o computador is the natural standard form.
This is a common pattern: the subject is plural (many people), but the object can be singular and generic:
- Quase todos estudam com o computador.
= Almost everyone studies using the computer (as a type of tool).
You could also say:
- Quase todos estudam com computadores.
This emphasizes the physical plurality of the devices (with computers), but it’s less idiomatic than the generic singular here.
Portuguese often uses a singular noun to talk about a thing in general, especially with technology or tools:
- O telemóvel, o carro, o computador (the mobile phone, the car, the computer – in general).
The simple present in Portuguese is used for:
- Habitual actions
- General truths
- Facts that are usually true
So:
- Quase todos estudam com o computador.
= Almost everybody studies with a computer (as a habit / generally).
Estão a estudar (they are studying) would describe what is happening right now:
- Agora, na biblioteca, eles estão a estudar com o computador.
Right now, in the library, they’re studying with the computer.
In your sentence, we’re talking about a general habit, so the simple present estudam is correct.
In European Portuguese, quase is pronounced roughly like:
- /ˈkwazɨ/
Key points:
- qu = “kw” sound
- a = like the “a” in father, but a bit shorter
- s between vowels = /z/ (like the z in zoo)
- Final e is usually a reduced vowel /ɨ/, not like English “ee”.
So it does not sound like English “quays”. It’s closer to something like “KWAH-zih” in a rough English approximation.
Yes, that’s perfectly correct and very natural:
- Hoje em dia quase toda a gente estuda com o computador.
= Nowadays almost everybody studies with a computer.
Quase todos and quase toda a gente are very close in meaning:
- quase todos = almost everyone / almost all (them)
- quase toda a gente = almost everybody (literally: almost all the people)
Quase toda a gente makes the idea of “people” explicit. Quase todos leaves the noun implied and can adapt to context (students, children, workers, etc.).
Estudam is the present tense, 3rd person plural of estudar (to study).
Present tense of estudar (European Portuguese):
- eu estudo – I study
- tu estudas – you (singular, informal) study
- ele / ela / você estuda – he / she / you (formal) study
- nós estudamos – we study
- vós estudais – (rare, archaic in PT)
- eles / elas / vocês estudam – they / you (plural) study
In your sentence, estudam refers to eles / elas (they), which is why the subject pronoun can be omitted.
Hoje em dia quase todos estudam com o computador. is neutral in style.
- It can be used in everyday conversation, in classrooms, and even in relatively formal writing.
- There is no slang and no particularly formal vocabulary.
It’s a plain, standard sentence suitable for most contexts.