Aprender línguas dá mais oportunidades de trabalho, sobretudo se o nível de português for bom.

Learning languages gives more job opportunities, especially if the level of Portuguese is good.

Breakdown of Aprender línguas dá mais oportunidades de trabalho, sobretudo se o nível de português for bom.

• bom: good
• ser: to be
• de: of
• mais: more
• o trabalho: the work
• se: if
• a língua: the language
• dar: to give
• sobretudo: especially
• aprender: to learn
• o português: the Portuguese
• o nível: the level
• a oportunidade: the opportunity

Questions & Answers about Aprender línguas dá mais oportunidades de trabalho, sobretudo se o nível de português for bom.

Why does the sentence start with “Aprender línguas” and not “Aprender as línguas” or something like “O aprender de línguas”?

In Portuguese, an infinitive can act as the subject of the sentence, similar to “To learn languages” or “Learning languages” in English.

• “Aprender línguas” = Learning languages (general idea, no article).
• The noun “línguas” is plural and indefinite here (we mean “languages in general”), so no article is used.
• “Aprender as línguas” would sound like learning the languages (some specific set of languages previously mentioned).
• “O aprender de línguas” is theoretically possible but sounds very formal and unusual in everyday language.

So “Aprender línguas” is the natural, neutral way to express the general activity of learning languages as a subject.

Why is it “dá” (3rd person singular) and not “dão”, since “línguas” is plural?

The real subject of the verb is “Aprender línguas” as a whole, not “línguas” by itself.

• Aprender línguas dá...
  → The action “Aprender línguas” is a single idea (one activity), so the verb is singular: dá.

If you changed the structure so that línguas becomes the grammatical subject, the verb would change:

• As línguas dão mais oportunidades de trabalho.
  Languages give more job opportunities.

Here, “As línguas” is clearly plural, so you need dão.

What exactly does “dar” mean in this context? It literally means “to give”, right?

Yes, dar literally means “to give”, but in this context it has the broader meaning of “to provide / to offer / to result in”, much like English:

• Aprender línguas dá mais oportunidades de trabalho.
  ≈ Learning languages gives/provides more job opportunities.

Other similar uses:

• Este curso dá acesso à universidade.
  This course gives/provides access to university.
• Isso dá muito trabalho.
  That causes/creates a lot of work.

So dar is very common in Portuguese in this “give/provide/lead to” sense.

Why is it “oportunidades de trabalho” and not something like “oportunidades no trabalho” or “oportunidades de emprego”?

All of these are possible, but they don’t mean exactly the same:

• oportunidades de trabalho
  Literally: work opportunities → tends to mean job or professional opportunities in a broad sense.
• oportunidades no trabalho
  Literally: opportunities at work → more like opportunities within your current job/workplace (promotions, new tasks, etc.).
• oportunidades de emprego
  Literally: employment opportunities → focuses more directly on getting a job (job openings).

In your sentence, “oportunidades de trabalho” is general: better chances in the job market, more professional possibilities, etc., not only inside one specific job.

What does “sobretudo” mean here, and is it different from “especialmente” or “principalmente”?

In this sentence, sobretudo means “above all / especially / particularly”:

• sobretudo se o nível de português for bom
  ≈ especially if the level of Portuguese is good

You can often replace it with:

• especialmente (especially)
• principalmente (mainly)

The nuance:

• sobretudo often has the meaning “above all, more than anything else”.
• especialmente is a bit more neutral: especially/particularly.
• principalmente often suggests mostly/primarily.

Also note: sobretudo can also be a noun meaning “overcoat” (a type of coat), but that meaning is completely different and only clear from context.

Why is there a comma before “sobretudo”? Is it necessary?

The comma before “sobretudo” separates an additional comment from the main clause:

• Aprender línguas dá mais oportunidades de trabalho, sobretudo se o nível de português for bom.

This is like English:

• Learning languages gives more job opportunities, especially if your Portuguese is good.

In Portuguese, “sobretudo” + clause here is an add-on / parenthetical idea, so a comma is natural.
You could technically omit the comma in very informal writing, but standard, careful writing would keep it.

Why is it “se o nível de português for bom” and not “se o nível de português é bom”?

This is about the subjunctive in Portuguese.

• for = present subjunctive of ser (to be).

• In if-clauses talking about a hypothetical or uncertain condition referring to the future, European Portuguese normally uses the present subjunctive:

  • Se o nível de português for bom, ...
    If the level of Portuguese is good (in that case / when that happens), ...

Using “se é bom” here sounds off to native speakers; it suggests you’re talking about something known and factual right now, not a condition for the result in the main clause.

Compare:

• Se estiver bom tempo, vamos à praia.
  If the weather is good, we’ll go to the beach. (subjunctive: estiver)
• Se estiveres cansado, diz-me.
  If you’re tired, tell me. (subjunctive: estiveres)

So: “for bom” is the correct, natural form in this conditional structure.

Why is the adjective “bom” masculine singular? Isn’t it describing “português”, which is a language?

The adjective “bom” is actually describing “o nível”, not “português”.

• o nível → masculine, singular
• de português → prepositional phrase specifying which level (the level of Portuguese)

So agreement works like this:

• o nível de português é bom → the level of Portuguese is good
• os níveis de português são bons → the levels of Portuguese are good
• a qualidade do português é boa → the quality of the Portuguese is good
  (now qualidade is feminine, so the adjective becomes boa)

“português” here is a noun meaning “(the) Portuguese (language)”, inside a “de + noun” structure.

Why is “português” not capitalized? In English we write “Portuguese” with a capital P.

In Portuguese, names of languages and nationalities are not capitalized, unless they start a sentence or are part of a proper name:

• português, inglês, francês, alemão, espanhol
  Portuguese, English, French, German, Spanish (languages)
• um português, uma inglesa
  a Portuguese man, an English woman (nationalities)

So:

• o nível de português
  the level of Portuguese (language)

is correctly lowercase. This is a standard rule, not just for this sentence.

Could I change the word order to something like “Aprender línguas, sobretudo se o nível de português for bom, dá mais oportunidades de trabalho”?

Yes, that word order is also grammatically correct and natural:

• Aprender línguas, sobretudo se o nível de português for bom, dá mais oportunidades de trabalho.

This version:

• Puts extra emphasis on “Aprender línguas” and the condition “sobretudo se o nível de português for bom” as the topic.
• Keeps “dá mais oportunidades de trabalho” as the final, concluding statement.

Both orders are fine. The original is slightly more straightforward and common in writing, but your alternative is perfectly acceptable and idiomatic.

How would this sentence typically sound in spoken European Portuguese? Any notable pronunciation points?

Spoken European Portuguese tends to reduce some vowels and link words:

• Aprender línguas

  • The final -r in aprender is often very weak or almost silent.
  • línguas: nasal “ín” sound in lín-, and the final -as is often reduced, sounding like “lín-gwɐsh”.

• dá mais oportunidades de trabalho

  • mais and oportunidades will flow together: dá mais-oportunidades...
  • de often reduces to something like [dɨ] or even [d] attached to the next word: detrabalho.

• sobretudo se o nível de português for bom

  • sobretudo often sounds like sobr’tudo (the middle e is very weak).
  • se o is usually linked: s’o nível...
  • português: stress on the last syllable: por-tu-GUÊS.
  • for bom will also link: forbom.

So the whole sentence is quite fluid in natural speech, with many reductions and links between words.