Breakdown of Hoje estou com sono e não quero estudar.
Questions & Answers about Hoje estou com sono e não quero estudar.
In Portuguese you don’t say “estou sono”.
The common way to say “I’m sleepy” is:
- estar com sono – literally “to be with sleepiness”
- Hoje estou com sono. = Today I’m sleepy.
Here, sono is a noun (sleepiness), not an adjective.
The pattern estar com + noun is very common for temporary physical states:
- estar com fome – to be hungry
- estar com sede – to be thirsty
- estar com frio – to be cold
So you need the preposition “com” plus the noun sono.
Yes. “Tenho sono” is also correct and natural.
- Hoje tenho sono.
- Hoje estou com sono.
Both mean “Today I’m sleepy.”
Nuance (in European Portuguese):
- tenho sono – very common, maybe slightly more neutral.
- estou com sono – also very common, sounds a bit more “in the moment”.
In everyday speech, you’ll hear both a lot.
Portuguese uses two verbs for “to be”:
- ser – for permanent or defining characteristics
- estar – for temporary states, conditions, locations
Being sleepy is a temporary state, so you use estar:
- Hoje estou com sono. ✓
- Hoje sou com sono. ✗ (incorrect)
Other examples:
- Sou alto. – I’m tall. (permanent)
- Estou cansado. – I’m tired. (right now)
Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the person.
- (Eu) estou com sono. – I’m sleepy.
- (Tu) estás com sono. – You’re sleepy.
So “Hoje estou com sono” already clearly means “Today I am sleepy”.
You can say “Eu hoje estou com sono”, but:
- It may sound a bit more emphatic, like stressing “I”: As for me, today I’m sleepy.
- Normal everyday version is just: Hoje estou com sono.
Yes, that’s fine:
- Hoje estou com sono.
- Estou com sono hoje.
Both are correct and natural.
Hoje (today) is flexible in position; putting it at the start is very common in speech and writing because it sets the time frame:
- Hoje estou com sono e não quero estudar.
In Portuguese, “não” normally comes right before the verb it negates:
- Quero estudar. – I want to study.
- Não quero estudar. – I don’t want to study.
More examples:
- Gosto de café. → Não gosto de café.
- Vou sair. → Não vou sair.
So for “I don’t want to study”, you must say “não quero estudar”, not “quero não estudar” (that’s only used in special emphasis/contrast contexts).
Some Portuguese verbs go directly with another verb in the infinitive, with no preposition.
Querer (to want) is one of them:
- Quero estudar. – I want to study.
- Quero comer. – I want to eat.
- Quero dormir. – I want to sleep.
Compare with verbs that do use a preposition:
- Gosto de estudar. – I like studying.
- Começo a estudar. – I start studying.
So “não quero estudar” is the correct structure.
Both can be used, but they feel different:
- Não quero estudar. – I don’t want to study.
- more direct, about your will/decision.
- Não me apetece estudar. – literally “it doesn’t appeal to me to study”
- more about not feeling like it, softer/less direct.
In European Portuguese, “não me apetece…” is very common and can sound slightly more polite or less blunt than “não quero…” in some contexts.
Sono means “sleepiness / the need to sleep”, not “a period of sleep” itself.
- Tenho sono. – I’m sleepy / I feel sleepy.
- Depois do almoço, fico com sono. – After lunch, I get sleepy.
For “sleep” as an activity or state, Portuguese often uses “sono” too, but in slightly different expressions:
- Dormir bem / mal – to sleep well / badly
- Ter um sono pesado / leve – to be a heavy / light sleeper
Don’t confuse it with:
- sonho – dream
- Tive um sonho estranho. – I had a strange dream.
- Estou com sono. – I’m sleepy; I feel like going to sleep.
- Estou cansado. – I’m tired; I lack energy, but not necessarily sleepy.
They can overlap, but:
- After a bad night’s sleep → Estou com sono.
- After doing sports or working all day → Estou cansado.
You can use both together:
- Hoje estou cansado e com muito sono. – Today I’m tired and very sleepy.
In European Portuguese, “hoje” is usually pronounced roughly like:
- /oʒ(ɨ)/ – something like “OH-zh(uh)”
Details:
- h is silent.
- o is like the “o” in “go” but shorter.
- j is like the “s” in “measure” (/ʒ/ sound).
- The final -e is often a very weak, almost disappearing /ɨ/ sound in European Portuguese.
Audio approximations (English-like):
- closer to “OH-zh” than to “HO-je”.
“Não” is pronounced roughly like:
- /nɐ̃w̃/ – something like “nun” with a nasal vowel plus a short “w” sound.
The “~” over the ã is called a tilde. It shows that the vowel is nasal:
- não – no / not
- mão – hand
- irmã – sister
English doesn’t have nasal vowels like this, so learners usually need practice listening and repeating.
They are different words:
e (without accent)
- means “and”
- pronounced about /i/ (like “ee” in “see”)
- Hoje estou com sono e não quero estudar. – and I don’t want to study.
é (with accent)
- is a form of “ser” – “to be” (3rd person singular)
- pronounced /ɛ/ (open “eh”)
- Hoje é segunda-feira. – Today is Monday.
So here, “e” = “and”, not “is”.
Yes, very common in European Portuguese:
To say “really sleepy”:
- Hoje estou com muito sono. – Today I’m very sleepy.
- Hoje estou mesmo com sono. – Today I’m really sleepy.
To say “I don’t want to study at all”:
- Não quero estudar nada. – I don’t want to study at all.
- Hoje não me apetece nada estudar. – Today I really don’t feel like studying.
A natural enriched version:
- Hoje estou com muito sono e não me apetece nada estudar.