Breakdown of Hoje eu estou desmotivado para estudar português.
Questions & Answers about Hoje eu estou desmotivado para estudar português.
Portuguese has two verbs for to be: ser and estar.
- ser is for permanent or defining characteristics:
- Eu sou alto. – I am tall.
- Ela é portuguesa. – She is Portuguese.
- estar is for temporary states, conditions, and emotions:
- Estou cansado. – I am tired.
- Ela está triste. – She is sad.
Being desmotivado (unmotivated) is a temporary emotional/mental state, not a permanent characteristic, so you use estar:
Hoje eu estou desmotivado… – Today I am (feeling) unmotivated…
Yes. In Portuguese (including European Portuguese), subject pronouns are often dropped because the verb ending usually shows who the subject is.
- Hoje estou desmotivado…
- Hoje eu estou desmotivado…
Both are correct. Hoje estou desmotivado… sounds slightly more natural in everyday speech because native speakers often omit eu unless they want to emphasize I (as opposed to someone else).
For emphasis:
- Hoje eu estou desmotivado, mas tu estás cheio de energia.
Today I am unmotivated, but you are full of energy.
Desmotivado is an adjective and must agree in gender (and number) with the person it describes.
- If the speaker is male:
- Hoje estou desmotivado.
- If the speaker is female:
- Hoje estou desmotivada.
- Group of only males or mixed group:
- Hoje estamos desmotivados.
- Group of only females:
- Hoje estamos desmotivadas.
So you choose desmotivado or desmotivada based on the speaker’s gender.
In Portuguese, names of languages, nationalities, months, and days of the week are written with a lowercase initial letter, unlike in English.
- português, inglês, francês, alemão
- segunda-feira, janeiro
So português is correct with a lowercase p when talking about the language.
Português with a capital P is only used at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.
Both are grammatically possible, but the usual way in this context is without the article:
- para estudar português – to study Portuguese (general, the language as a subject)
- para estudar o português – can sound a bit more specific or formal (e.g., the Portuguese language as an object of linguistic study)
With school subjects and languages, European Portuguese often omits the article:
- Gosto de estudar história e português.
- Ela está a aprender francês.
So para estudar português is the most natural, neutral choice here.
Here, para + infinitive expresses purpose / intention:
- Estou desmotivado para estudar português.
I am unmotivated to study Portuguese.
Common patterns:
- para + infinitive → purpose or objective
- Eu preciso de tempo para estudar. – I need time to study.
- a + infinitive → often used for the progressive in European Portuguese (estar a + infinitive)
- Estou a estudar português. – I am studying Portuguese (right now).
- de + infinitive → often required by certain verbs/adjectives or expressions
- Tenho medo de falar Português. – I am afraid to speak Portuguese.
In this sentence you want purpose (what you are unmotivated to do), so para estudar is the right choice.
Yes, you can say:
- Hoje eu não estou motivado para estudar português.
The meaning is very close, but there is a small nuance:
- não estou motivado = I am not motivated (neutral, just the absence of motivation)
- estou desmotivado = I am unmotivated / demotivated (often suggests a drop in motivation, maybe frustration, disappointment, etc.)
Both are correct; desmotivado can sound slightly stronger or more emotional.
The sentence is perfectly fine in European Portuguese:
- Hoje estou desmotivado para estudar português.
It also works in Brazilian Portuguese (maybe with more frequent eu and pra in speech):
- Hoje eu tô desmotivado pra estudar português. (spoken BrPT)
A very natural European Portuguese alternative with the same idea is:
- Hoje não me apetece estudar português.
(Today I don’t feel like studying Portuguese.)
Yes. Hoje is quite flexible in word order. All of these are correct:
- Hoje estou desmotivado para estudar português.
- Hoje eu estou desmotivado para estudar português.
- Estou desmotivado hoje para estudar português.
- Estou desmotivado para estudar português hoje.
The most common in European Portuguese would probably be:
- Hoje estou desmotivado para estudar português.
- Hoje não me apetece estudar português.
Placing hoje at the beginning is very natural to set the time frame.
All express a lack of desire/motivation, but with slightly different tones:
- desmotivado para estudar – (cognate with English demotivated), sounds a bit more formal or psychological:
- Hoje estou desmotivado para estudar português.
- sem vontade de estudar – literally without desire to study, very common and neutral:
- Hoje estou sem vontade de estudar português.
- não me apetece estudar – very idiomatic in European Portuguese, common in speech:
- Hoje não me apetece estudar português.
Meaning overlap is large; the choice is mostly about style and how colloquial you want to sound. For everyday European Portuguese speech, não me apetece estudar português is extremely common.
Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation:
- desmotivado → /dɨʒmutiˈvadu/
- Stress on -va-: des-mo-ti-VA-do
- The initial de- is a reduced vowel, something like the e in the.
- português → /puɾtuˈɡeʃ/
- Stress on the last syllable: por-tu-GUÊS
- Final -ês sounds like English esh but with the vowel of say shortened: -eʃ.
You can listen to European Portuguese audio online (e.g., Forvo, Wiktionary) to get used to the exact sounds.
In this sentence, desmotivado functions as an adjective describing the subject’s state.
- Formally, it is derived from the past participle of the verb desmotivar, but in everyday use with estar it behaves like a normal adjective:
- It agrees in gender and number:
- desmotivado / desmotivada / desmotivados / desmotivadas
- It can be modified by adverbs:
- Estou muito desmotivado. – I am very unmotivated.
- It agrees in gender and number:
So you can think of it simply as the adjective desmotivado = unmotivated.