Breakdown of Quando desligo o telemóvel, consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura.
Questions & Answers about Quando desligo o telemóvel, consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura.
In European Portuguese, the present indicative after quando is normal when you are talking about a habit or general situation.
- Quando desligo o telemóvel, consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura.
= Whenever / when I turn my phone off, I can concentrate better.
You would use the future subjunctive (quando desligar) more for a specific future event:
- Quando desligar o telemóvel, vou começar a ler.
= When I turn my phone off (that specific time), I’ll start reading.
So in your sentence, desligo (present) matches the idea of a repeated or typical situation, not a one‑off future event.
In European Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article with things that clearly belong to you, even when English would say my.
- Quando desligo o telemóvel…
= literally When I switch off the phone…, but context makes it clear it’s my phone.
You can also say:
- Quando desligo o meu telemóvel…
This is also correct and a bit more explicit, but o telemóvel alone is perfectly natural in European Portuguese. Saying quando desligo telemóvel (without any article) is not correct here.
Telemóvel is the standard European Portuguese word for a mobile phone / cell phone.
- telemóvel (Portugal) ≈ cell phone / mobile phone
- telefone usually means a telephone in general (landline or phone as a concept).
- In Brazil, people say celular for cell phone.
So in Portugal you normally say telemóvel, not celular, in everyday speech.
Conseguir focuses on being able to manage / succeed (in doing something), often because conditions are better.
- consigo concentrar-me ≈ I manage / I’m able to concentrate.
Poder (posso concentrar-me) is more neutral and often suggests permission or possibility.
- Posso concentrar-me aqui? = May I / Is it possible for me to concentrate here?
- Consigo concentrar-me melhor sem barulho. = I can concentrate better (I manage to) without noise.
In your sentence, consigo matches the idea that turning off the phone makes concentration actually possible / easier.
Concentrar-me is the infinitive verb concentrar plus the reflexive pronoun me, joined by a hyphen.
In European Portuguese, object/reflexive pronouns are usually attached with a hyphen to:
- infinitives: concentrar-me, levantar-me
- gerunds: levantando-se
- affirmative imperatives: levanta-te!
Here we have consigo concentrar-me: consigo is a conjugated verb, followed by an infinitive. The reflexive pronoun naturally attaches to the infinitive: concentrar-me. This is the most typical order in European Portuguese.
In European Portuguese, the preferred and most natural form here is:
- consigo concentrar-me
Grammatically, me consigo concentrar is possible, but it sounds less natural and more formal or emphatic.
- consigo me concentrar (without a hyphen) is typical of Brazilian Portuguese, not European Portuguese.
So for Portuguese from Portugal, stick to consigo concentrar-me in this type of structure.
Many verbs about mental states or focus are reflexive in Portuguese, even though English does not use a reflexive pronoun:
- concentrar-se = to concentrate (oneself)
- lembrar-se = to remember
- esforçar-se = to make an effort / to try hard
Without the pronoun, concentrar normally means to concentrate something else (e.g. to concentrate a solution, to concentrate resources). When you are the one focusing, Portuguese prefers the reflexive:
- Eu consigo concentrar-me. = I am able to concentrate.
Melhor is the irregular comparative form of both:
- bom (good) → melhor (better, as an adjective)
- and often of bem (well) → melhor (better, as an adverb)
So:
- concentrar-me melhor = to concentrate better.
You almost never say mais bem in this context, and mais melhor is incorrect. Always use melhor for better here:
- Consigo concentrar-me melhor. ✅
- Consigo concentrar-me mais bem. ❌ (sounds wrong)
- Consigo concentrar-me mais melhor. ❌ (double comparative)
Na is a contraction of the preposition em and the feminine article a:
- em + a = na
- em + o = no
So:
- na leitura = em a leitura = in the reading / on the reading / during reading.
In good Portuguese, you should always contract these forms:
- na leitura, no livro, nas aulas, nos exames, etc.
Writing em a leitura is not idiomatic in modern Portuguese.
Leitura is a noun meaning reading (the activity), just like English uses reading as a noun:
- I can concentrate better on reading
→ Consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura.
Using the noun focuses on the activity as a whole. You could rephrase the idea with a verb, but it would usually need a fuller structure, for example:
- Consigo concentrar-me melhor quando estou a ler.
= I can concentrate better when I am reading.
Both are fine, but na leitura is compact and natural.
Yes, you can move the quando‑clause to the end:
- Quando desligo o telemóvel, consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura.
- Consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura quando desligo o telemóvel.
Both are correct and mean the same.
The comma is normally used when the sentence starts with the quando‑clause, but it is not used when the clause comes at the end, unless you want a special pause:
- Quando desligo o telemóvel, consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura. ✅
- Consigo concentrar-me melhor na leitura quando desligo o telemóvel. ✅ (no comma)