Breakdown of Hoje eu quero ficar dentro de casa a estudar português.
Questions & Answers about Hoje eu quero ficar dentro de casa a estudar português.
Yes. In Portuguese (including in Portugal), subject pronouns are often dropped because the verb ending already shows the person.
- Hoje eu quero ficar… – perfectly correct, a bit more emphatic: I want to.
- Hoje quero ficar… – also perfectly correct, slightly more neutral / natural in everyday speech.
Use eu:
- for emphasis or contrast: Eu hoje quero ficar em casa, mas tu queres sair.
- when it might be unclear who the subject is.
Otherwise, omitting it is very common and sounds natural.
Ficar has the idea of staying / remaining somewhere or in some state, especially for a period of time.
- ficar em casa = to stay (at) home
- estar em casa = to be at home (simple location)
So:
- Hoje eu quero ficar dentro de casa… = Today I want to stay inside the house… (I will remain there, not go out)
- Hoje eu quero estar dentro de casa… is possible but less natural; it focuses more on being inside, not on the idea of staying there instead of going out.
Here, ficar matches the English “stay” very well.
Both can often translate as “at home”, but there’s a nuance:
em casa
- very common, neutral: “at home” / “at the house”.
- focus is mainly on the location (home vs outside).
dentro de casa
- literally: “inside the house”.
- emphasizes being indoors, not going out.
- adds a slight contrast to going outside:
Hoje eu quero ficar dentro de casa. = I don’t want to leave the house.
In your sentence, dentro de casa suggests “I want to stay indoors” rather than just “I will be at home.”
- dentro de casa (no article) = inside the house / indoors in a general, unspecific way, basically “inside (my) home”.
- dentro da casa (de + a = da) = inside the house but referring to a specific house that has already been mentioned or is obvious.
Examples:
- Hoje eu quero ficar dentro de casa.
= I want to stay indoors (at home in general). - Há muito barulho na rua; vou ficar dentro da casa do João.
= I’ll stay inside João’s house (a specific house).
In daily speech about your own home, dentro de casa is more natural.
In European Portuguese, a + infinitive often works like the English “-ing” form after verbs such as ficar, estar, ir, vir:
- ficar a estudar ≈ to stay studying
- estar a ler ≈ to be reading
- ir a correr (less common, but possible) ≈ to go running
So:
- ficar a estudar português = stay and (keep) studying Portuguese / stay at home studying Portuguese.
In Portugal, this “a + infinitive” structure is the most natural progressive form (equivalent to “be doing”), much more than using -ndo forms like estudando in speech.
Yes, it’s correct, but the nuance changes slightly:
ficar dentro de casa a estudar português
- focuses on the ongoing action: staying at home doing the activity of studying Portuguese.
- similar to: stay home *studying Portuguese*.
ficar dentro de casa para estudar português
- para + infinitive gives more of a purpose: in order to study Portuguese.
- similar to: stay home *in order to study Portuguese*.
In many contexts, both are fine and the difference is subtle, but:
- a estudar = the activity itself, in progress
- para estudar = the goal / reason
A very natural Brazilian version would be:
- Hoje eu quero ficar em casa estudando português.
Key differences:
Brazil prefers gerund forms (estudando) for ongoing actions:
- PT-PT: ficar a estudar
- PT-BR: ficar estudando
em casa is much more common in Brazil than dentro de casa; dentro de casa is also used, but em casa is the default “at home”.
Meaning-wise, they are the same; it’s mainly a grammar and style difference between European and Brazilian Portuguese.
Yes. Portuguese word order is somewhat flexible. All of these are grammatical:
- Hoje eu quero ficar dentro de casa a estudar português.
- Hoje quero ficar dentro de casa a estudar português.
- Hoje eu quero estudar português dentro de casa.
- Eu hoje quero ficar dentro de casa a estudar português.
- Eu hoje quero estudar português em casa.
Differences are mostly about emphasis and style:
- Putting hoje first gives it emphasis: Today, I want to…
- Moving dentro de casa / em casa earlier or later can slightly change what feels most highlighted (the place vs the activity), but all are natural.
In Portuguese:
names of languages are written with a lowercase initial letter:
- português, inglês, francês, alemão, espanhol, etc.
nationalities and adjectives are also lowercase:
- um rapaz português (a Portuguese boy)
- um livro inglês (an English book)
So:
- a estudar português is correct.
- Writing Português here would be considered wrong in standard writing (except in titles, company names, or for stylistic reasons).
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:
quero ficar = I want to stay
- expresses desire / intention.
- maybe it will happen, maybe not; it’s what you feel like doing.
vou ficar = I’m going to stay / I will stay
- more about a plan / decision / near future.
- suggests you really will stay at home.
Both are common. Use:
- quero when you’re emphasizing your wish.
- vou when you’re emphasizing what will (almost certainly) happen.
Both are possible, but there is a nuance:
estudar português
- no article.
- usual when talking about learning the language in general:
- Estou a aprender português.
- Gosto de estudar línguas: português, francês, espanhol…
estudar o português
- with article o.
- more likely in specific contexts, e.g.:
- Estudo o português de Portugal.
- Estamos a estudar o português clássico do século XIX.
In your sentence, you mean the language in general, so estudar português is the most natural choice.
Approximate IPA for European Portuguese:
- Hoje eu quero ficar dentro de casa a estudar português.
/ˈo.ʒɨ ew ˈkɛ.ɾu fiˈkaɾ ˈdẽ.tɾu dɨ ˈka.zɐ ɐ ʃtuˈðaɾ puɾ.tuˈɡeʃ/
Some tips:
- Hoje: sounds a bit like “O-zh(ɨ)”, with a soft “zh” (as in vision).
- quero: “KEH-roo”, open e in the first syllable.
- ficar: stress on -car: fi-CAR.
- dentro: nasal en: “DEN-tro” with the e slightly nasal.
- casa: “KA-zɐ”, final a is more like a weak ɐ.
- a estudar: “ɐ shtu-DAR”, the e of estudar often loses its e sound and the s sounds like sh.
- português: stress on the last syllable: por-tu-GÊSH.