Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Estou a ler um romance policial cheio de mistério, escrito por um autor famoso. - I am reading a crime novel full of mystery, written by a famous author.

Estou a ler = I am reading (right now / at the moment)
- This is the present continuous/progressive, formed in European Portuguese with estar + a + infinitive.
- It emphasizes that the action is in progress.
Leio = I read / I do read
- This is the simple present, used more for habits, routines, or general truths, e.g.
  - Leio muitos livros. – I read a lot of books (in general).

In your sentence, the speaker wants to stress that they are currently in the process of reading the crime novel, so Estou a ler is the natural choice.

Why is it "estar a + infinitive" instead of "estar + gerúndio" like in Brazilian Portuguese?

This is a major difference between European and Brazilian Portuguese:

European Portuguese (Portugal)
- The usual progressive form is estar + a + infinitive:
  - Estou a ler. – I’m reading.
  - Estávamos a comer. – We were eating.
Brazilian Portuguese
- The usual progressive form is estar + gerúndio (-ndo form):
  - Estou lendo. – I’m reading.
  - Estávamos comendo. – We were eating.

In Portugal:

Estou a ler sounds completely natural and standard.
Estou lendo is understood, but it clearly sounds Brazilian, not European.

So if you’re aiming for Portuguese from Portugal, learn and use estar a + infinitive for the present continuous.

Could I say "Eu estou a ler" instead of just "Estou a ler"?

Yes, you can, but it’s less common in normal conversation.

Portuguese (especially European Portuguese) usually drops the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows the person:
- Estou a ler. – I’m reading.
- The -o ending in estou already tells us it’s “I”.

You typically use "Eu":

For contrast or emphasis:
- Eu estou a ler, ele está a ver televisão.
  I’m reading, he’s watching TV.
To avoid ambiguity, but that’s rare with estou, because it clearly marks first person singular.

So: "Estou a ler" is the more natural everyday version in Portugal.

What does "romance" mean here? Is it like English "romance" (love story)?

No — this is an important false friend.

In Portuguese:

romance = a novel (a long fictional book), of any genre
- um romance histórico – a historical novel
- um romance de fantasia – a fantasy novel

If you want to refer specifically to a love story, you’d usually say:

uma história de amor – a love story
um romance romântico – a romantic novel (context makes it clear)

So in "um romance policial", romance just means novel, not “romantic book”.

What exactly is a "romance policial"?

Romance policial is the standard Portuguese phrase for:

a crime novel, detective novel, or mystery novel.

Breakdown:

romance – novel
policial – literally “related to police / crime investigation”

It doesn’t necessarily mean there are lots of police officers as characters; it’s the genre label for crime / detective fiction.

So:

Estou a ler um romance policial = I’m reading a crime/detective novel.

Why is it "romance policial cheio de mistério" and not "cheio de mistérios" or something else?

All of these are possible; they just sound slightly different:

cheio de mistério
- Literally: full of mystery (mystery as a general quality)
- Emphasizes the atmosphere of mystery.
cheio de mistérios
- Literally: full of mysteries (many separate mysteries)
- Suggests several specific puzzles / unknowns in the story.
You could also say muito misterioso (very mysterious):
- um romance policial muito misterioso – a very mysterious crime novel.

The original sentence chooses cheio de mistério to convey a strong overall sense of mystery around the story.

Why is it "cheio de" and not "cheio com"?

In Portuguese, the normal construction is:

cheio de + noun = full of …
- cheio de gente – full of people
- cheio de problemas – full of problems
- cheio de mistério – full of mystery

Using cheio com is not standard in this meaning.
So you should always learn cheio de + something to say full of X.

Why is it "cheio" and not "cheia"?

Because adjectives in Portuguese must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

romance is masculine singular: o romance.
Therefore, cheio must also be masculine singular:
- um romance cheio de mistério – a novel full of mystery.

Compare:

um filme cheio de mistério – a (masc.) film full of mystery
uma história cheia de mistério – a (fem.) story full of mystery

If it were “história” (feminine), you would say cheia.
Here, with romance (masculine), you say cheio.

What is "escrito por um autor famoso" doing grammatically? Is it like a relative clause?

Yes, it’s basically a reduced relative clause.

Full form would be:
- … um romance policial cheio de mistério, que foi escrito por um autor famoso.
  … a crime novel full of mystery, which was written by a famous author.

In the original sentence:

escrito – past participle of escrever (to write)
por um autor famoso – by a famous author

So "escrito por um autor famoso" is a past participle phrase modifying romance policial:

um romance … (que foi) escrito por um autor famoso

This construction is very natural and common in Portuguese.

Why is there a comma before "escrito por um autor famoso"? Could I leave it out?

The comma is there because "escrito por um autor famoso" is extra descriptive information, like a non‑essential relative clause:

um romance policial cheio de mistério, escrito por um autor famoso
→ a crime novel full of mystery, (which was) written by a famous author.

You could write it without a comma:

um romance policial cheio de mistério escrito por um autor famoso

That’s also grammatically possible; then the whole string “cheio de mistério escrito por um autor famoso” reads as one long descriptive unit.

In practice:

With comma: it feels more like additional information added after you’ve already described the book.
Without comma: it feels more like a tighter, continuous description.

Both are acceptable; the version with the comma is slightly clearer and more natural in writing.

What’s the difference between "autor" and "escritor"?

They overlap, but there are some nuances:

autor = author
- Often used in a bit more formal or “literary” contexts.
- Can also mean the person responsible for something (not only books):
  - o autor do crime – the perpetrator of the crime.
escritor = writer
- Focuses more on the profession/occupation of writing.
- Usually someone who writes literature, but can also be broader.

In your sentence:

um autor famoso = a famous author
- Very natural way to say that this is a well-known literary author.
- um escritor famoso would also be correct and very common.

Why is it "um autor famoso" and not "o autor famoso"?

Because the speaker is introducing “a” famous author in general, not a specific one already known in the conversation.

um autor famoso – a famous author (non‑specific / not previously mentioned)
o autor famoso – the famous author (specific, assumed to be known from context)

In your sentence, we don’t know who the author is; it’s just important that he’s well-known. So um autor famoso fits perfectly.

How do you pronounce the tricky bits, like "um", "romance", and "autor", in European Portuguese?

Key points in European Portuguese pronunciation:

um
- Nasal vowel, roughly like French “un” but shorter.
- Not like English “oom” or “um” in “umbrella”.
- The m is not clearly pronounced; it nasalizes the vowel.
romance
- In Portugal, often pronounced something like [ʁuˈmɐ̃s] or [ʁɔˈmɐ̃s] depending on accent.
- Final -ce is like /s/, not “see”.
- The a can be reduced to ɐ (a schwa-like sound), and is often nasal: mɐ̃.
autor
- Typically [awˈtoɾ] or [ɔwˈtoɾ] in European Portuguese.
- The r at the end is a strong /ɾ/ or slightly guttural /ʁ/ depending on the speaker, but it’s clearly there (unlike in many Brazilian accents that weaken final r).

If you listen to European Portuguese audio, you’ll notice:

Stronger final consonants (like the r in autor)
More vowel reduction (unstressed vowels become something like English “uh”).