Breakdown of Eu vejo uma árvore grande no jardim.
Questions & Answers about Eu vejo uma árvore grande no jardim.
You can omit Eu.
Portuguese verb endings show the subject, so both are correct:
- Eu vejo uma árvore grande no jardim.
- Vejo uma árvore grande no jardim.
Using Eu adds a bit of emphasis on I (e.g. I see a big tree… as opposed to someone else).
Ver is the infinitive (to see).
In a real sentence you need a conjugated form that matches the subject:
- Infinitive: ver (to see)
- Eu (I) form, present tense: vejo (I see / I am seeing)
So Eu vejo = I see / I am seeing.
Yes, ver is irregular in the present tense. In European Portuguese:
- eu vejo – I see
- tu vês – you see (informal singular)
- ele / ela vê – he / she sees
- nós vemos – we see
- vocês veem – you (plural) see
- eles / elas veem – they see
Your sentence uses eu vejo.
Portuguese present simple often covers both English meanings:
- Eu vejo uma árvore grande no jardim.
= I see a big tree in the garden.
or I am seeing a big tree in the garden.
If you really want to highlight the ongoing action, European Portuguese normally uses:
- Estou a ver uma árvore grande no jardim. – I’m (currently) seeing / looking at a big tree in the garden.
But vejo is perfectly natural in many contexts where English uses I am seeing.
Because árvore is feminine, and the indefinite article must agree with the noun:
- uma – feminine singular (a / one)
- um – masculine singular (a / one)
So:
- uma árvore – a tree
- um jardim – a garden
You mostly have to learn it with the word, but there are some hints:
- The ending -e can be either masculine or feminine, so it doesn’t tell you much.
- Many words for plants and trees are feminine (a árvore, a flor, a planta), though not all.
In practice, you just memorize a árvore (the tree), uma árvore (a tree) as feminine.
The normal position for adjectives in Portuguese is after the noun:
- uma árvore grande – a big tree
Some common adjectives (including grande) can go before or after, with a slight change in nuance:
- uma grande árvore – can sound more expressive / emotional (a great/remarkable tree, or stylistic emphasis)
- uma árvore grande – more neutral, mostly about physical size
In everyday speech, árvore grande is the default.
Some adjectives have the same form for masculine and feminine in the singular, and only change in the plural. Grande is one of them:
- uma árvore grande – a big tree (feminine singular)
- um jardim grande – a big garden (masculine singular)
- árvores grandes – big trees (plural)
- jardins grandes – big gardens (plural)
So no granda; the feminine is also grande.
No is a contraction of the preposition em (in / on / at) + the masculine singular article o (the):
- em + o = no → no jardim = in the garden
- (for comparison: em + a = na → na árvore = in/on the tree)
These contractions are obligatory in normal speech and writing.
In Portuguese, every noun is either masculine or feminine, and it’s mostly arbitrary.
Jardim is always masculine:
- o jardim – the garden
- um jardim – a garden
- no jardim – in the garden
There is no feminine version a jardim; that would be incorrect.
árvore → árvores
- uma árvore grande – a big tree
- duas árvores grandes – two big trees
jardim → jardins
- um jardim grande – a big garden
- dois jardins grandes – two big gardens
Adjectives also go to the plural: grande → grandes.
The neutral order is Subject – Verb – Object – Place:
- Eu vejo uma árvore grande no jardim.
You can change the order for emphasis, especially in speech or writing:
- No jardim, eu vejo uma árvore grande. – In the garden, I see a big tree. (emphasis on in the garden)
- Vejo, no jardim, uma árvore grande. – more literary / stylistic.
But you cannot freely scramble words like in some languages; too much reordering can sound unnatural.
Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly:
Eu vejo uma árvore grande no jardim.
– I see a big tree in the garden (not specified which one; it’s just some big tree).Eu vejo a árvore grande no jardim.
– I see the big tree in the garden (both speaker and listener know which tree is meant).
So uma is a/an, a is the.
No, that sounds wrong in normal European Portuguese.
With countable singular nouns like árvore, you practically always need an article or another determiner:
- Eu vejo uma árvore grande no jardim. – correct
- Eu vejo essa árvore grande no jardim. – I see that big tree in the garden.
Leaving the article out works with some plural or abstract nouns, but not here.
Approximate pronunciations (European accent):
- Eu – like “eh-oo” [ɛw] (often very quick, almost like English “ehw”)
- vejo – VE as in “veh”, jo like “zhu” → VE-zhu [ˈve.ʒu]
- uma – OO-ma [ˈu.mɐ]
- árvore – stress on the first syllable: AR (like English “AR” but shorter), vo like “vu”, re as a very light “rɨ” → AR-vu-rɨ [ˈaɾ.vu.ɾɨ]
- grande – GRAN with a slightly nasal an, de like “dɨ” → GRAN-dɨ [ˈɡɾɐ̃.dɨ]
- no – like English “no” but shorter [nu]
- jardim – zhar-DEENG with a nasal im → [ʒaɾˈdĩ]
Key points:
- r in árvore, jardim is a flap [ɾ], like a quick Spanish/Italian r.
- Final -im in jardim is nasal, not like English “eem”.
Grammatically, the sentence is fine in both varieties. Differences are mainly:
- Progressive:
- European: Estou a ver uma árvore grande no jardim.
- Brazilian: Estou vendo uma árvore grande no jardim.
- Pronunciation: vowels and r/s sounds are quite different, but the spelling is the same.
- Everyday subject use: Brazilians tend to keep the subject pronoun Eu slightly more often than many Europeans, but Eu vejo… and Vejo… are both understood everywhere.