Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Em vez de tu fugires do problema, é melhor falares com a professora. - Instead of running away from the problem, it is better for you to talk to the teacher.

It’s a fixed expression: em vez de + [noun / pronoun / verb in the infinitive]
- Em vez de carne, vou comer peixe. – Instead of meat, I’ll eat fish.
- Em vez de tu fugires, devias ficar. – Instead of you running away, you should stay.

In this sentence, it’s followed by tu fugires, which is a personal infinitive (see next questions). The de is required; you can’t drop it:
✗ em vez tu fugires → ✔ em vez de tu fugires

What verb form are fugires and falares? They don’t look like normal present tense.

Fugires and falares are personal infinitive forms, not present tense.

The personal infinitive is an infinitive that is conjugated for person and number. For example:

falar (to speak) – personal infinitive:
- eu falar
- tu falares
- ele / ela / você falar
- nós falarmos
- eles / vocês falarem
fugir (to run away) – personal infinitive:
- eu fugir
- tu fugires
- ele / ela / você fugir
- nós fugirmos
- eles / vocês fugirem

It’s very common in European Portuguese after prepositions (like de) and after some expressions (like é melhor) when you want to make the subject explicit (here: tu).

Why don’t we say tu foges and falas, since the subject is “tu”?

Because in Portuguese, after a preposition (like de) you cannot use a normal (finite) verb form.

So:

✗ Em vez de tu foges do problema… (ungrammatical)
✔ Em vez de tu fugires do problema…

Likewise, after é melhor, Portuguese often uses an infinitive (here, the personal infinitive falares) instead of a finite verb:

✗ … é melhor tu falas com a professora.
✔ … é melhor falares com a professora.

You can think of it as:

em vez de tu fugires ≈ “instead of you running away”
é melhor falares ≈ “it is better (for you) to talk”

Do I need the tu in em vez de tu fugires? Can I leave it out?

You can absolutely leave it out; in fact, omitting it is more common:

Em vez de fugires do problema, é melhor falares com a professora.

Adding tu gives a bit more emphasis, like “instead of you running away…”. So:

Without tu: normal, neutral: “Instead of running away from the problem…”
With tu: more pointed: “Instead of you running away from the problem…”

Both are correct in European Portuguese.

Why isn’t tu repeated before falares? Shouldn’t it be … é melhor tu falares…?

Both versions are possible:

… é melhor falares com a professora. (very common)
… é melhor tu falares com a professora. (also correct)

In Portuguese, subject pronouns are usually dropped when the verb ending already shows who the subject is. Since falares can only be tu (2nd person singular), there is no need to repeat tu.

If you include tu, it adds emphasis or contrast:

É melhor tu falares com a professora, não outra pessoa.
It’s better that you talk to the teacher, not someone else.

Could I just use the plain infinitive fugir and falar instead of fugires and falares?

Sometimes, yes, but there’s a nuance:

Personal infinitive (fugires / falares) – clearly refers to tu:
- Em vez de fugires do problema, é melhor falares com a professora.
  = advice specifically to you.
Plain infinitive (fugir / falar) – can sound more general / impersonal:
- Em vez de fugir do problema, é melhor falar com a professora.
  = more like “Instead of running away from the problem, it’s better to talk to the teacher” (general advice, not just to you).

However, if you explicitly say tu, then standard European usage strongly prefers the personal infinitive:

✗ Em vez de tu fugir do problema… (felt wrong by most speakers)
✔ Em vez de tu fugires do problema…

What is do in do problema? Why not just de problema?

Do is a contraction of the preposition de + the masculine singular article o:

de + o = do
de + a = da
de + os = dos
de + as = das

The verb fugir takes the preposition de:

fugir de um problema – to run away from a problem
fugir do problema – to run away from the problem (a specific one we both know about)

So do problema literally is “from-the problem”. In Portuguese it’s very common to use the definite article where English would just say “from the problem” (here it aligns with English, but often Portuguese uses the article even more than English does).

Why is it com a professora and not just com professora or com sua professora?

Portuguese almost always uses an article with singular countable nouns, especially with professions:

com a professora – with the (female) teacher
✗ com professora – sounds incomplete/unnatural in standard Portuguese

Here, a professora means “the teacher we both have in mind” (probably your teacher). You don’t have to say sua/tua if the context is clear.

You can say:

com a tua professora – with your (informal) teacher
com a sua professora – with your teacher (more formal / or 3rd person “his/her” depending on context)

But simple com a professora is perfectly normal and often preferred when it’s obvious which teacher you mean.

How would this sentence change if I wanted to use você instead of tu in Portugal?

In Portugal, tu is the usual informal “you”. Você sounds distant, formal, or even slightly cold/impolite in many contexts, so learners are often advised to master tu first.

If you did use você, you’d normally make the sentence more impersonal and drop the explicit pronoun:

Em vez de fugir do problema, é melhor falar com a professora.

This can still be understood as advice to você, from context.

A more literal version with você plus personal infinitive is possible but stylistically less common:

Em vez de você fugir do problema, é melhor falar com a professora.

Notice that with você, normal finite verbs take 3rd person (ele/ela) forms, but the personal infinitive pattern (fugir, falares, etc.) stays the same as in the paradigm shown earlier.

Could I also say É melhor que fales com a professora instead of é melhor falares? What’s the difference?

Yes, both are correct:

É melhor falares com a professora.
– é melhor + personal infinitive (falares)
Very common in European Portuguese, especially in speech.
É melhor que fales com a professora.
– é melhor que + present subjunctive (fales)
Also correct; often sounds a bit more formal or written.

Meaning-wise, they are extremely close: both are recommending that you talk to the teacher. In everyday European Portuguese, é melhor + infinitive (often personal) is probably the most frequent pattern.