Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Antes do exame, eu quero tomar um café quente. - Before the exam, I want to have a hot coffee.

The basic preposition is de: antes de = before.
When de comes before the masculine singular article o, they contract:
de + o → do
So de o exame becomes do exame.
You must keep the preposition de after antes when it’s followed by a noun, so “Antes o exame” is wrong.

Correct options with a noun:

Antes do exame = Before the exam
Antes da aula (de + a → da) = Before the class

Can I omit “eu” and just say “Antes do exame, quero tomar um café quente”?

Yes. In Portuguese (including European Portuguese), subject pronouns are often dropped because the verb ending shows the subject.

Eu quero → the -o ending in quero already tells you it’s eu.
So both are correct:
- Antes do exame, eu quero tomar um café quente.
- Antes do exame, quero tomar um café quente.

Using or omitting eu here doesn’t change the meaning; including it can slightly emphasize I.

Is the comma after “exame” necessary, or can I write “Antes do exame quero tomar um café quente”?

Both are seen in practice:

With comma:
Antes do exame, eu quero tomar um café quente.
This is the more standard, recommended punctuation, because “Antes do exame” is an introductory adverbial phrase.
Without comma:
Antes do exame quero tomar um café quente.
This is also acceptable in many contexts, especially if the phrase is short.

If you want to follow more traditional, “careful” writing rules, use the comma when the time expression (Antes do exame) comes first.

Why is the verb “tomar” used for “have a coffee”? Could I use “beber” instead?

Yes, you can use beber, but there’s a nuance:

tomar um café
- Very common and natural in Portugal.
- Means to have a coffee (often implying the whole act of going for a coffee, not just the physical drinking).
beber um café
- Also correct and understood.
- Focuses a bit more strictly on the act of drinking.

In everyday European Portuguese you’ll often hear:

Vamos tomar um café. = Let’s have a coffee.

So in your sentence, both are possible:

Eu quero tomar um café quente. (more idiomatic)
Eu quero beber um café quente. (fully correct)

What’s the difference between “tomar café” and “tomar um café”?

The article um makes a difference:

tomar café
- More general: to drink/have coffee (in general).
- Could refer to the habit or the substance, not necessarily one specific coffee.
- Example: Eu gosto de tomar café de manhã. = I like to drink coffee in the morning.
tomar um café
- More specific: to have a coffee / a cup / an espresso (one unit).
- Very idiomatic when you mean “go have a coffee now”.
- Example: Queres tomar um café comigo? = Do you want to have a coffee with me?

In your sentence, you’re talking about one concrete coffee before the exam, so tomar um café quente fits best.

Why is “quente” placed after “café”? Can adjectives go before the noun in Portuguese?

By default, adjectives in Portuguese come after the noun:

um café quente = a hot coffee
um livro interessante = an interesting book

Adjectives can go before the noun, but that’s less common and often changes the nuance or is used for stylistic/emotional effect (poetic, emphatic, etc.), e.g.:

um belo café = a lovely/beautiful coffee (not about beauty, but positive emotion)
um grande problema = a big problem (figurative size)

However, “quente” in everyday speech almost always comes after the drink/food:

um café quente
uma sopa quente

Putting quente before café (um quente café) would sound odd or very poetic, not normal conversation.

Does “quente” change with gender and number, like other adjectives? How would it look in plural or with feminine nouns?

Adjectives ending in -e (like quente) usually have:

one form for masculine and feminine singular
another form for plural (both genders)

So:

Singular:
- um café quente (masc.) = a hot coffee
- uma sopa quente (fem.) = a hot soup
Plural:
- dois cafés quentes (masc. plural) = two hot coffees
- duas sopas quentes (fem. plural) = two hot soups

Rule:

Singular: quente
Plural: quentes (add -s)

Is “exame” masculine or feminine, and how do I know what article to use?

In Portuguese, exame is masculine:

o exame = the exam
do exame = of the exam / before the exam (de + o exame)

There’s no simple rule that will tell you the gender of all nouns. Some patterns exist (e.g. many words ending in -a are feminine, many in -o are masculine), but exame ends in -e, which is ambiguous.

So you just need to memorize:

o exame (masc.)
um exame = an exam

How would I say “Before taking the exam, I want to have a hot coffee” using a verb after “antes de”?

You use antes de followed by an infinitive verb:

Antes de fazer o exame, eu quero tomar um café quente.
= Before taking/doing the exam, I want to have a hot coffee.

Structure:

antes de
- infinitive (no article)
  - antes de fazer (before doing/taking)

But when you keep exame, you still need the article:

fazer o exame (to take/do the exam)
So the full pattern is: antes de + infinitive + object.

Can I change the word order and say “Eu quero tomar um café quente antes do exame”?

Yes, that word order is completely natural:

Antes do exame, eu quero tomar um café quente.
→ Slight emphasis on the time: Before the exam, I want…
Eu quero tomar um café quente antes do exame.
→ More neutral, linear order: I want to have a hot coffee before the exam.

Both are correct and common. The choice is mostly about rhythm and emphasis, not grammar.

How do you pronounce “quente” and “exame” in European Portuguese?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation:

quente
- IPA: [ˈkẽtɨ] (the final e is a very reduced, almost uh sound).
- Roughly: “KEN-t(i)” with a nasal en.
- The qu sounds like English k (no kw sound).
exame
- IPA: [iˈzɐm(ɨ)]
- Roughly: “ee-ZUH-m(uh)”
- e at the start is pronounced like ee: e → i sound.
- The middle a is the Portuguese ɐ (a very relaxed uh).
- Final e is again very reduced and may be barely audible in fast speech.

Remember these are approximations; real European Portuguese vowels are more central and reduced than in English.

Could I say something more polite than “eu quero tomar um café quente”, like “I’d like to have a hot coffee”?

Yes. In European Portuguese, to sound softer or more polite you can use:

Eu gostava de tomar um café quente.
= I’d like to have a hot coffee.

Eu queria tomar um café quente.
= I would like / I wanted to have a hot coffee.

Both gostava de and queria (imperfect/conditional-like forms) are very common in Portugal to make requests or wishes sound more polite than the direct eu quero.