Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Isto há de correr bem se continuares a praticar todos os dias. - This will go well if you keep practising every day.

Literal structure:
- há = 3rd person singular of haver
- de = preposition “of/from” (here, part of the fixed expression)
- correr = “to go / to run”
Meaning in this sentence:
Isto há de correr bem ≈ “This will turn out well / is bound to go well / should go well.”

Nuance:

It often expresses:
- hopeful expectation
- confidence that something will eventually happen
It can feel slightly more emotional, encouraging, or “philosophical” than a plain future like vai correr.

So it is a kind of future, but with a flavour of “things will work out / fate will see to it,” rather than a cold factual “will.”

Can I just say Isto vai correr bem instead of Isto há de correr bem?

Yes, Isto vai correr bem is completely correct and very natural.

Difference in nuance:

Isto vai correr bem
- Straightforward future with ir + infinitive.
- Neutral, common in everyday speech.
- ≈ “This is going to go well / This will go well.”
Isto há de correr bem
- Feels a bit more hopeful, reassuring, or reflective.
- Often used to comfort or encourage someone.
- In some contexts, a touch more formal or “literary”, but still heard in speech in Portugal.

In practice, both are fine. Choice depends more on style and tone than on strict grammar.

Why not just use the simple future correrá: Isto correrá bem?

Isto correrá bem is grammatically correct, but in modern spoken Portuguese (especially in Portugal) the synthetic future (correrá, fará, será, etc.) is less frequent in everyday conversation.

Instead, people usually prefer:

vai correr bem (ir + infinitive)
há de correr bem (haver de + infinitive)

Correrá tends to sound:

more formal
more written than spoken
slightly more detached or “bookish” in a casual conversation.

So you could write Isto correrá bem in a formal text, but in normal speech vai correr bem or há de correr bem feels more natural.

What tense/form is continuares? Why not continuas or continuar?

Continuares is 2nd person singular, future subjunctive of continuar.

Infinitive: continuar
Future subjunctive (futuro do conjuntivo):
- (eu) continuar
- (tu) continuares
- (ele / ela / você) continuar
- (nós) continuarmos
- (vós) continuardes
- (eles / vocês) continuarem

In the sentence:

se continuares a praticar = if you continue to practise (referring to the future)

Why not continuas?

se continuas a praticar would use the present indicative, which is not the usual choice for a future condition in Portuguese.
In European Portuguese, when you talk about a future condition introduced by se (“if”), you normally use the future subjunctive.

So:

Correct/natural: Isto há de correr bem se continuares a praticar todos os dias.
Not natural for future meaning: Isto há de correr bem se continuas a praticar todos os dias.

Why does Portuguese use the future subjunctive continuares when English uses a present tense “if you continue”?

This is a systematic difference between English and Portuguese:

English: In conditional clauses about the future, we often use the present:
- “If you continue to practise, it will go well.”
Portuguese: The verb in the if-clause normally goes to the future subjunctive when referring to the future:
- Se continuares a praticar, isto há de correr bem.

Triggers in Portuguese that usually take future subjunctive when talking about the future:

se (if)
quando (when)
logo que / assim que (as soon as)
enquanto (while, as long as), etc.

So you can’t translate the tenses directly from English. You have to remember: > Future condition in Portuguese → future subjunctive, not present.

Is continuares talking to tu? How would it change for você or more formal speech?

Yes. Continuares is the tu form (informal singular you).

If you change the person, the verb changes:

Informal singular tu:
Se continuares a praticar todos os dias, isto há de correr bem.
Formal singular o senhor / a senhora / você:
Se continuar a praticar todos os dias, isto há de correr bem.
Plural vocês:
Se continuarem a praticar todos os dias, isto há de correr bem.

So the original sentence is clearly addressing someone with tu, which is common in Portugal among friends, family, or with children.

Why is there an a before praticar? Can we say continuares praticar?

No, you can’t drop the a here. Many Portuguese verbs require a preposition before another verb in the infinitive.

Continuar is one of them:

continuar a + infinitive = to continue / to keep doing something

So:

Correct: continuar a praticar
Incorrect: continuar praticar

In the sentence:

continuares a praticar ≈ “(if) you keep practising / if you continue to practise”

This a is not optional; it’s part of the normal structure of continuar when it’s followed by another verb.

Is a praticar here like the English “practising” (continuous form), or like “to practise”?

Functionally, it’s closest to English “to practise” after continue:

se continuares a praticar ≈ “if you continue to practise”

But in meaning, it also overlaps with:

“if you keep (on) practising”

Important distinctions:

continuar a praticar: “to continue/keep practising”
estar a praticar: “to be practising (right now)” – this is the usual present continuous in European Portuguese.

So:

Ele continua a praticar todos os dias.
“He continues to practise every day / He keeps practising every day.”
Ele está a praticar agora.
“He is practising now.”

Why is it bem and not bom in há de correr bem?

Because bem is an adverb and bom is an adjective.

correr here is a verb meaning “to go / to turn out.”
To modify a verb, Portuguese uses an adverb, so you need bem.

Compare:

Isto há de correr bem.
“This will go well / turn out well.” → adverb modifying the verb correr
Isto é bom.
“This is good.” → adjective describing the noun isto

Using bom with correr (Isto há de correr bom) would be incorrect.

Can I change the word order and say: Se continuares a praticar todos os dias, isto há de correr bem?

Yes, absolutely. Both orders are natural:

Isto há de correr bem se continuares a praticar todos os dias.
Se continuares a praticar todos os dias, isto há de correr bem.

Notes:

When the if-clause (with se) comes first, you normally put a comma:
- Se continuares a praticar todos os dias, isto há de correr bem.
When it comes after the main clause, you usually don’t need a comma:
- Isto há de correr bem se continuares a praticar todos os dias.

The meaning is the same; it’s just a stylistic choice.

Why is it isto and not isso or aquilo?

Portuguese has three basic demonstratives:

isto – this (near the speaker, or the current situation being discussed)
isso – that (near the listener, or something just mentioned by the other person)
aquilo – that (far from both, or more abstract/distant)

In Isto há de correr bem, isto usually refers to:

the situation you and the other person are currently involved in
something that has just been mentioned by the speaker
e.g. an exam, a project, an interview, a trip, etc.

Using isto makes it feel more like “this thing we’re dealing with right now.”

You could sometimes hear Isso há de correr bem, especially if the speaker is referring to something the other person has just brought up, but Isto há de correr bem is the more typical reassuring phrase.

Is this sentence specifically European Portuguese? How would Brazilians usually say it?

The sentence is very characteristic of European Portuguese, especially because of:

the use of tu → continuares
continuar a praticar instead of a gerund

In Brazilian Portuguese, a very natural version might be:

Isso vai dar certo se você continuar praticando todos os dias.
(“This will work out if you keep practising every day.”)

or more literally:

Isso vai correr bem se você continuar a praticar todos os dias. (less common with correr bem)
Isso há de dar certo se você continuar praticando todos os dias. (still used, more literary/reassuring)

Key differences:

você instead of tu
continuar praticando (gerund) is very common in Brazil; in Portugal, they prefer continuar a praticar.
The whole original sentence, as given, sounds especially natural in Portugal.