Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros.

When I make a mistake, I try to learn from my mistakes.

Breakdown of Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros.

• eu: I
• meu: my
• quando: when
• com: with
• tentar: to try
• o erro: the mistake
• aprender: to learn
• errar: to make a mistake

Questions & Answers about Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros.

Are erro and erros the same word here? Why do they look almost the same but have different roles?

They come from the same root, but they’re different parts of speech:

• erro (in quando eu erro) is the 1st‑person singular present of the verb errar (to make a mistake).
  • eu erro = I make a mistake / I’m wrong.
• erros (in os meus erros) is the plural noun erros (mistakes), from the singular noun erro.

So the structure is:

• Quando eu erro → When I make a mistake (verb)
• com os meus erros → with my mistakes / from my mistakes (noun, plural)

Same root, but one is a verb form (erro = I err), the other a plural noun (erros = mistakes).

Why do you say quando eu erro and not quando eu faço um erro (like make a mistake)?

Portuguese normally uses the verb errar for this idea, not a verb+noun combination.

• eu erro = I make a mistake / I’m wrong
• eu faço um erro is grammatically possible, but it sounds less natural and often a bit foreign (influenced by English).

Some natural options:

• Quando eu erro, tento aprender… → most idiomatic.
• Quando cometo um erro, tento aprender… → also very natural; cometer um erro (to commit a mistake).

So in everyday European Portuguese, errar or cometer um erro are the usual ways to say make a mistake.

Can I leave out eu and just say Quando erro, tento aprender…?

Yes. In Portuguese, subject pronouns are often dropped because the verb ending already shows the person.

• Quando eu erro, tento aprender…
• Quando erro, tento aprender…

Both mean the same thing. The version without eu is very natural and even a bit more typical in everyday Portuguese.

You usually include the pronoun:

• for emphasis: Quando eu erro, não culpo ninguém.
• to avoid ambiguity: when several possible subjects exist and you want to be clear who is acting.

Why is there a comma after erro? Could I write Quando eu erro tento aprender… without a comma?

In standard Portuguese punctuation, a comma is normally used to separate a dependent clause from the main clause when the dependent clause comes first:

• Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros. ✅

This is the most natural written form.

Writing it without a comma:

• Quando eu erro tento aprender com os meus erros.

is sometimes seen in informal writing, but it’s not considered good style. In careful writing (books, newspapers, school), you should keep the comma after the quando clause.

Why is it os meus erros and not just meus erros or os erros?

Portuguese often uses article + possessive with body parts, family members, and many concrete nouns:

• os meus erros = my mistakes (literally the my mistakes)

You have several options, with slightly different flavours:

1. os meus erros

   • Very natural and neutral in European Portuguese.
   • Stresses that we’re talking specifically about my mistakes.

2. meus erros

   • Also correct, but a bit more formal/literary in European Portuguese.
   • Common in titles, slogans, and some written styles.

3. os erros

   • Just the mistakes; the possessive disappears.
   • This would usually mean the mistakes (in general), not necessarily mine.

In your sentence, os meus erros clearly emphasizes my own mistakes, which fits the idea of personal learning.

Why meus and not minhas? How do I know which form of meu/minha to use?

Possessive adjectives must agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify.

The noun here is:

• erro (masculine singular)
• erros (masculine plural)

So the matching forms of meu are:

• meu erro → my mistake (masculine, singular)
• meus erros → my mistakes (masculine, plural)

If the noun were feminine, you would use minha/minhas:

• a minha ideia → my idea (feminine singular)
• as minhas ideias → my ideas (feminine plural)

In the sentence, erros is masculine plural, so meus is the correct form: os meus erros.

Why is it aprender com os meus erros and not aprender de / dos meus erros?

In this expression, Portuguese very commonly uses aprender com:

• aprender com os meus erros = to learn from my mistakes

Here com doesn’t mean with in the sense of together with; it’s more like by means of / on the basis of, which is exactly from in English in this context.

You can also hear:

• aprender com os erros → learn from (one’s) mistakes.
• aprender com a experiência → learn from experience.

aprender dos meus erros (from my mistakes) is possible, but it is:

• less idiomatic in this set phrase, and
• often sounds a bit more abstract or bookish, depending on context.

In everyday European Portuguese, aprender com os meus erros is the standard, most natural choice.

What’s the difference between tento aprender and just aprendo here?

They express different attitudes:

• tento aprender = I try to learn
  → emphasizes effort or intention; you may not always succeed perfectly.
• aprendo = I learn
  → states it as a fact or a regular result.

Compare:

• Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros.
  → When I make a mistake, I make an effort to learn from it.

• Quando eu erro, aprendo com os meus erros.
  → Whenever I make a mistake, I do learn from it (it actually happens).

Both are grammatically correct; the original sentence is a bit more modest and realistic: you don’t claim you always succeed, just that you try.

Is the present tense here talking about right now or about a general habit?

This is the present habitual (or gnomic present) in Portuguese, just like English When I make mistakes, I try to learn from them.

• Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros.

It doesn’t mean right now I’m making a mistake; it means:

• Whenever I make a mistake, in general, I try to learn from it.

Portuguese uses the simple present very often for:

• habits: Eu acordo cedo. – I get up early.
• general truths: A água ferve a 100 graus. – Water boils at 100 degrees.
• and this kind of repeated situation introduced by quando.

Could I use se instead of quando, as in Se eu erro, tento aprender…? What would change?

You could say:

• Se eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros.

Grammatically it’s fine, but the nuance changes:

• Quando → whenever / every time that
  
  • More neutral, more like a general situation that definitely happens.
• Se → if
  
  • Sounds a bit more hypothetical or conditional: if it happens that I make a mistake.

In normal speech about your own behaviour, Quando eu erro, tento aprender… is slightly more natural, because everyone knows they will make mistakes; it’s not really a hypothetical condition.

How is Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros pronounced in European Portuguese?

A careful European Portuguese pronunciation might be:

• Quando eu erro, tento aprender com os meus erros.
  IPA (approx.): [ˈkwɐ̃.du ew ˈɛ.ʁu ˈtẽ.tu ɐ.pɾɨ̃.ˈdeɾ kõ uʒ ˈmeuʒ ˈɛ.ʁuʃ]

Some tips:

• quando → [ˈkwɐ̃.du]
  
  • qu like English kw, the an is nasal (like in French quinze).
• eu → [ew] (a diphthong, similar to ehw).
• erro / erros → [ˈɛ.ʁu] / [ˈɛ.ʁuʃ]
  
  • Initial e like e in bed.
  • The rr is a guttural sound in the throat (like French or German r).
  • Final s in erros is [ʃ] (sh) in European Portuguese.
• os meus erros → linked together:
  
  • os before a consonant is [uʒ] (like uzh).
  • meus is [meuʃ], ending again in a sh sound.
  • So you get something like [kõ uʒ meuʃ ɛʁuʃ].

In fluent speech, many vowels get a bit reduced, and the words flow together, but this approximation will be well understood in Portugal.