Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): No consultório, o psicólogo explicou que a vergonha pode ser útil se nos lembrar de mudar. - At the doctor’s office, the psychologist explained that shame can be useful if it reminds us to change.

No consultório = “in the consulting room / office” (of a doctor, psychologist, etc.).
Saying em consultório without the article would sound odd and incomplete in Portuguese; you almost always use the article with this kind of location.

So No consultório is the natural way to say “In the consulting room / At the office” here.

What exactly does consultório mean? How is it different from clínica or escritório?

Consultório: the office where a health/medical professional (doctor, dentist, psychologist, etc.) sees patients. Focus on individual practice and consultations.
Clínica: a clinic – usually a medical facility, often with several professionals and possibly more services or equipment.
Escritório: a general office for non‑medical professionals (lawyers, accountants, engineers, etc.). You wouldn’t normally say escritório do psicólogo.

So no consultório fits a psychologist’s room where you have a session.

Why is there a comma after No consultório?

No consultório is an introductory phrase that sets the scene (where the action happens).

In European Portuguese, it’s common (and stylistically preferable) to separate such an initial adverbial phrase with a comma:

No consultório, o psicólogo explicou…

You could sometimes omit the comma in short sentences, but here it’s fully standard and clear.

Why is it o psicólogo and not just psicólogo?

In Portuguese, professions are very often used with the definite article when referring to a specific person:

o psicólogo = “the psychologist” (the one we’re talking about, known in context).

Saying just psicólogo explicou… would sound incomplete or wrong. You need either:

A definite article: o psicólogo explicou…
Or a name/title: O Dr. Silva, psicólogo, explicou…

So o psicólogo is the normal way to say “the psychologist” here.

Could we say no consultório do psicólogo instead of just no consultório?

Yes, you can say No consultório do psicólogo, ….

No consultório: already clear from context (we know it’s his consulting room).
No consultório do psicólogo: more explicit, useful if you need to contrast it with, say, o consultório do médico or another place.

Both are grammatical; the original is simply less repetitive and more natural if the context is obvious.

Why do we need que after explicou? Why can’t we say o psicólogo explicou a vergonha pode ser útil…?

In Portuguese, when a verb like explicar, dizer, pensar, acreditar, etc. introduces a full clause, you normally need que to link them:

o psicólogo explicou que a vergonha pode ser útil…

Without que, the sentence is ungrammatical here.

So que is functioning as a conjunction like English “that” (often omitted in English, but not in Portuguese).

Why is it a vergonha with the article, and not just vergonha?

Portuguese often uses the definite article with abstract nouns when talking about them in a general sense:

a vergonha
o medo, a coragem, a felicidade, etc.

So a vergonha pode ser útil = “shame can be useful” in a general, abstract way. Saying simply vergonha pode ser útil sounds incomplete or less natural in standard European Portuguese.

Is útil masculine or feminine? Why doesn’t it change form here?

Útil is an adjective that has the same form for masculine and feminine in the singular:

um sentimento útil (masc.)
uma ideia útil (fem.)

It only changes for plural: úteis.

So in a vergonha pode ser útil, it agrees in number (singular) with a vergonha, but not in gender form because útil doesn’t change between masculine/feminine in the singular.

How does se nos lembrar work grammatically? What is the subject, and what tense is lembrar?

The hidden structure is: se (a vergonha) nos lembrar de mudar.

Subject: a vergonha (3rd person singular).
nos: object pronoun = “us”.
lembrar here is the 3rd person singular future subjunctive of lembrar. In Portuguese, the future subjunctive for many verbs looks like the infinitive:
- quando ele lembrar, se ele lembrar, se a vergonha nos lembrar, etc.

So se nos lembrar means “if it reminds us” in a future/possible sense.

Why is it se nos lembrar and not se lembrar de nós?

Both are possible, but they’re not used in the same way:

se nos lembrar de mudar = “if it reminds us to change” (we are the object of the verb lembrar).
se lembrar de nós usually means “if he/she/it remembers us” (as people), not “remind us to do something.”

The pattern here is lembrar alguém de fazer algo = “remind someone to do something”:

lembrar-nos de mudar = remind us to change.

So se nos lembrar de mudar fits that pattern and is the natural way to say “if it reminds us to change.”

What’s the difference between lembrar and lembrar-se?

They’re related but used differently:

lembrar alguém de algo / de fazer algo = to remind someone of something / to do something
- Ele lembrou-me da reunião. – He reminded me of the meeting.
- Isso pode lembrar-nos de mudar. – That can remind us to change.
lembrar-se de algo (reflexive) = to remember something (by yourself)
- Eu lembro-me da reunião. – I remember the meeting.

In your sentence, a vergonha is reminding us (not remembering), so the non‑reflexive lembrar is correct: se nos lembrar de mudar.

Why is it de mudar? Could we say de mudarmos instead?

The pattern is: lembrar alguém de fazer algo – the verb after de is normally in the infinitive:

lembrar-nos de mudar – remind us to change.

You can say de mudarmos (personal infinitive), which puts more emphasis on we specifically being the ones who change:

se nos lembrar de mudarmos – also correct, a bit more explicit about the subject (“we”).

In everyday speech, de mudar is simpler and very natural here.

Why is it se nos lembrar (future subjunctive) and not se nos lembra (present indicative) or se nos lembre (present subjunctive)?

In Portuguese, when you talk about a future condition with se (“if”), you normally use the future subjunctive:

Se ele vier, falamos. – If he comes, we’ll talk.
Se tiver tempo, ligo-te. – If I have time, I’ll call you.

So here:

Se nos lembrar de mudar… – If (in the future / under that condition) it reminds us to change…

Using se nos lembra would sound like a habitual present (“if it usually reminds us”), and se nos lembre isn’t used for this kind of real future condition. The future subjunctive lembrar is the standard choice.

How might this sentence look in Brazilian Portuguese? Are there any differences?

The sentence is also fine in Brazilian Portuguese as written. A very natural Brazilian version could be:

No consultório, o psicólogo explicou que a vergonha pode ser útil se isso nos lembrar de mudar.

Main tendencies in Brazil:

Strong preference for proclisis (pronoun before the verb), which we already have (nos lembrar).
Often adding an explicit subject isso: se isso nos lembrar…, though it’s not required.

So the structure and verb forms remain the same; differences are more about style and pronoun usage habits than strict grammar.