Antes de tu ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.

Before you go to work, drink a glass of water.

Breakdown of Antes de tu ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.

• tu: you
• um: a
• beber: to drink
• a água: the water
• de: of
• ir: to go
• trabalhar: to work
• antes de: before
• o copo: the glass

Questions & Answers about Antes de tu ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.

Why do we say antes de and not just antes?

In Portuguese, when antes is followed by:

• a verb in the infinitive, or
• a noun,

you normally need the preposition de:

• antes de trabalhar – before working
• antes de o jantar / antes do jantar – before dinner

So antes de tu ires trabalhar literally = “before you going to work”.

Antes by itself is usually an adverb meaning “earlier / before (that)”:

• Cheguei antes. – I arrived earlier / before.

If you want a full clause with a conjugated verb and a different subject, you use antes que with the subjunctive:

• Antes que ele chegue, temos de arrumar. – Before he arrives, we have to tidy up.

In your sentence the same person both goes to work and drinks, so antes de + infinitive is the right pattern. You cannot drop de here.

What exactly is the verb form ires? Is it a tense of ir?

Ires is not a “tense” in the usual sense; it’s the personal infinitive (infinitivo pessoal) of ir for tu (2nd person singular).

The personal infinitive of ir is:

• eu ir
• tu ires
• ele / ela / você ir
• nós irmos
• vós irdes
• eles / elas / vocês irem

Portuguese has two infinitives:

1. Impersonal infinitive: ir (no subject indicated)
2. Personal infinitive: ires, irmos, irem, etc., which shows who is doing the action.

You often use the personal infinitive after prepositions (like de, para, sem, por) when the subject is clear or needs to be made explicit:

• Depois de eu comer, saí. – After I ate, I went out.
• Sem nós irmos, eles não começam. – Without us going, they won’t start.

In antes de tu ires trabalhar, ires tells you explicitly that tu is the one who is going (to work).

Why is it tu ires and not tu vais?

Because de is a preposition, and in Portuguese you can’t put a conjugated verb directly after a preposition. After a preposition you must use:

• a noun: de casa, de manhã
• or an infinitive (impersonal or personal): de ir, de ires, de trabalhar

So:

• ❌ antes de tu vais trabalhar – ungrammatical
• ✅ antes de tu ires trabalhar – correct
• ✅ antes de ires trabalhar – also correct (and more usual)

Vais is present indicative (a finite verb form), so it cannot follow de. You need an infinitive form (ir / ires), and here the personal infinitive ires is used.

Can I leave out tu and just say Antes de ires trabalhar?

Yes, and that’s actually more natural:

• Antes de ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.

In Portuguese, subject pronouns (like eu, tu, ele) are usually dropped because the verb ending shows the person. The -es ending of ires already tells you the subject is tu.

You typically include tu only for:

• emphasis or contrast:
  
  • Antes de tu ires trabalhar, eu quero falar contigo.
• clarity, when several possible subjects exist.

So:

• With emphasis/contrast: Antes de tu ires trabalhar…
• Neutral, everyday version: Antes de ires trabalhar…

Why do we say ir trabalhar instead of just trabalhar?

Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different:

• ir trabalhar = “to go (in order) to work”
  Focus on leaving / going to the workplace.
• trabalhar = “to work (do work)”
  Focus on the activity of working itself.

So:

• Antes de ir trabalhar, tomo café.
  → Before I go to work (leave for my job), I have coffee.

• Antes de trabalhar, leio os e‑mails.
  → Before working (starting work), I read the emails.

In everyday speech about a job, ir trabalhar is very common as the natural equivalent of English “go to work”. That’s why you see it here.

Is the word order fixed, or can I say Bebe um copo de água antes de ires trabalhar?

You can absolutely change the order:

• Antes de ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.
• Bebe um copo de água antes de ires trabalhar.

Both are correct and mean the same thing. The difference is only which part you want to highlight first. Portuguese word order is fairly flexible in this kind of sentence.

Why is there a comma after trabalhar?

In European Portuguese, when a subordinate clause comes before the main clause, you normally separate the two with a comma:

• Antes de ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.
  (subordinate clause first → comma → main clause)

If you put the main clause first, the comma is usually not written:

• Bebe um copo de água antes de ires trabalhar.
  (main clause first → no comma)

So the comma here is just standard punctuation marking the boundary between the “before…” part and the main instruction.

What kind of imperative is bebe? How would I say it formally or to more than one person?

Bebe is the affirmative imperative for “tu” (2nd person singular, informal):

• Present indicative: tu bebes
• Affirmative imperative: bebe (tu)

In European Portuguese:

• tu (informal singular):

  • Bebe um copo de água. – (you, friend/child) drink …

• você / o senhor / a senhora (formal singular):

  • Beba um copo de água. – (you, sir/ma’am) drink …

• vocês / os senhores / as senhoras (plural):

  • Bebam um copo de água. – (you all) drink …

And with nós (let’s…):

• Bebamos um copo de água. – Let’s drink a glass of water.

So for a polite or formal instruction to one person, you’d say:

• Antes de ir trabalhar, beba um copo de água.
  (no tu, no ires here; subject is você / o senhor / a senhora)

Why is it um copo de água and not um copo da água?

In Portuguese, de is used for the contents of a container, in a general sense:

• um copo de água – a glass of water
• um copo de vinho – a glass of wine
• uma chávena de café – a cup of coffee

You use da / do / dos / das when you mean “of the (specific)…”:

• um copo da água do poço – a glass of the water from the well
• um copo da água que sobrou – a glass of the water that was left over

In your sentence there is no specific, previously identified water; it’s just “a glass of water”, so de is the correct choice: um copo de água.

Could I use the present tense instead of the imperative, like bebes um copo de água?

You can, but the meaning changes.

• Bebe um copo de água.
  → Imperative: a command / instruction / strong suggestion.
  “Drink a glass of water.”

• Bebes um copo de água.
  → Present indicative: a statement of fact or habit.
  “You drink a glass of water (before you go to work).”

So:

• Antes de ires trabalhar, bebes um copo de água.
  → “Before you go to work, you drink a glass of water.” (a routine)

• Antes de ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.
  → “Before you go to work, drink a glass of water.” (telling someone what to do)

For a typical instruction or advice, you want the imperative bebe.

Is this sentence specifically European Portuguese? Would Brazilians say it differently?

Yes, the sentence is perfectly natural European Portuguese. A Brazilian version would usually look a bit different.

European Portuguese (informal tu):

• Antes de ires trabalhar, bebe um copo de água.

Typical Brazilian Portuguese (with você):

• Antes de você ir trabalhar, beba um copo de água.

Differences:

1. Pronoun

   • Portugal often uses tu in informal speech.
   • Brazil mostly uses você (even informally, in many regions).

2. Personal infinitive

   • In EP, antes de tu ires / antes de ires with ires is very natural.
   • In BP, it’s much more common to say antes de você ir (infinitive ir, not ires, with você).

3. Imperative form

   • With tu (EP): bebe
   • With você (BP/EP formal): beba

So the given structure especially with tu ires + bebe clearly sounds European Portuguese.

What does the accent in água tell me about pronunciation?

The accent in água does two main things:

1. Shows where the stress is

   • Á-gua – stress on the first syllable.
   • Without the accent, the default stress rule would make many people guess a-GUA (second syllable), which is wrong.

2. Indicates vowel quality

   • á is an open “a” sound, like the “a” in English father (roughly).

Pronunciation in European Portuguese (simplified):

• á – stressed open “a”
• gu – [gw] sound before a here
• a (final, unstressed) – a very reduced vowel, like a weak “uh”

So you get something close to Á-gwa. The accent mainly guarantees the correct stress pattern.