Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Quando abro as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia para trabalhar. - When I open the curtains, I immediately feel more energy to work.

In Portuguese (especially European Portuguese), subject pronouns like eu (I), tu (you), ele/ela (he/she) are often dropped because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

abro can only mean I open, not you open, he opens, etc.
So Quando abro as cortinas is completely natural and means When I open the curtains.

You can say Quando eu abro as cortinas, but adding eu often adds a slight emphasis on I, as in:

Quando eu abro as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia…
→ more like “When I open the curtains, I immediately feel more energy … (maybe unlike other times / other people).”

In neutral sentences, Portuguese usually omits the pronoun.

Why is the present tense used in Quando abro as cortinas instead of a future tense, like “When I will open the curtains”?

Portuguese works like English here: for routine or general truths, both languages normally use the present tense after quando / when:

Quando abro as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia…
→ “When I open the curtains, I immediately feel more energy…”

This sentence describes a habitual situation, a general pattern, so the present tense is correct.

If you were talking about a specific moment in the future, you could also use the future subjunctive in Portuguese:

Quando abrir as cortinas, vai sentir logo mais energia.
“When you open the curtains, you’ll immediately feel more energy.”

But for regular habits, present is the natural choice.

Why is it as cortinas and not just cortinas?

European Portuguese uses the definite article (o, a, os, as) much more than English.

as cortinas literally: the curtains

In English we can often say “I open curtains” or “I open the curtains” depending on context, but in Portuguese, with a concrete object like this in a normal sentence, you almost always use the article:

Abro as cortinas todas as manhãs.
“I open the curtains every morning.”

Dropping the article (Abro cortinas) would sound unnatural here; it feels incomplete or like you are talking about curtains very abstractly (almost never the case in everyday speech).

Also, cortinas is plural because we normally talk about a pair / set of curtains on a window, just like in English.

What exactly does logo mean here in sinto logo mais energia?

logo has several meanings in Portuguese, and this can be confusing. In this sentence it means something like:

immediately, right away, straight away

So:

sinto logo mais energia
→ “I immediately feel more energy.”

Other common uses of logo:

soon / later on
- Chego logo. = “I’ll be there soon / in a bit.”
therefore / so (more formal / written)
- Não estudou, logo não passou.
  “He didn’t study, therefore he didn’t pass.”

Here, context and position tell you it’s the adverb of time: immediately.

Can I move logo? For example, is Logo sinto mais energia or Sinto mais energia logo also correct?

Yes, you can move logo, but the most natural version in everyday speech is the one you have:

Sinto logo mais energia… ✅ (most idiomatic)

Other possible word orders:

Logo sinto mais energia para trabalhar.
This is grammatically fine but sounds a bit more emphatic or stylistic (you might see this in writing or a more expressive spoken style).
Sinto mais energia logo para trabalhar.
This is not wrong, but feels less natural and can sound slightly awkward; most speakers wouldn’t choose this order in a simple sentence like this.

So, for neutral, natural EP, stick with:

Quando abro as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia para trabalhar.

Why is it sinto logo mais energia and not sinto-me logo mais energia? Don’t Portuguese speakers often use -me with sentir?

Portuguese has two common patterns with sentir:

sentir + noun
- Sinto frio. = “I feel cold.”
- Sinto dor. = “I feel pain.”
- Sinto mais energia. = “I feel more energy.”
sentir-se + adjective / state
- Sinto-me cansado. = “I feel tired.”
- Sinto-me com mais energia. = “I feel more energetic.”

In your sentence, energia is a noun, so no reflexive pronoun is needed:

sinto mais energia = “I feel more energy.” ✅

If you wanted to emphasise your state, you could say:

Sinto-me logo mais enérgico.
“I immediately feel more energetic.”

Both are correct, but sinto mais energia is perfectly natural as written.

Why is it energia para trabalhar and not energia de trabalhar?

The preposition para is used here to express purpose or intended use:

energia para trabalhar
→ “energy to work / for working”

para + infinitive very often means “to do X / in order to do X”:

Dinheiro para comer. = “Money to eat / for food.”
Tempo para estudar. = “Time to study.”

de would change the meaning and usually sound wrong here:

energia de trabalhar
This suggests something like “energy of working” (a very odd, almost abstract phrase in Portuguese).

So for “energy to work”, energia para trabalhar is the natural structure.

Could I say energia para o trabalho instead of energia para trabalhar? What’s the difference?

You could say:

Sinto logo mais energia para o trabalho. ✅

…but it changes the nuance slightly:

para trabalhar = “to work / for working” → focuses on the activity / action.
para o trabalho = “for (my) work / for the job” → focuses more on the work as a thing you have to face (the tasks, the job itself).

In many contexts both would make sense, but:

para trabalhar is more general and direct: you feel energy to perform the action of working.
para o trabalho can sound a bit more like “for my day at work / for the workload.”

In your sentence, para trabalhar is the most straightforward and commonly used version.

Is the comma in Quando abro as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia… obligatory?

Yes, in standard written Portuguese you should put a comma after an initial quando-clause:

Quando abro as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia para trabalhar. ✅

If the quando clause comes first, you normally separate it with a comma.

If you invert the order, the comma is usually not used:

Sinto logo mais energia para trabalhar quando abro as cortinas. ✅
(No comma needed here.)

Spoken Portuguese doesn’t “care” about commas, of course, but in writing this is the standard rule.

Can I say Quando abrir as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia… instead of Quando abro as cortinas…?

In this specific sentence, no: Quando abrir as cortinas, sinto… is not the natural choice if you’re describing a habit.

Quando abro as cortinas, sinto…
→ Describes a repeated / habitual situation. ✅

Quando abrir uses the future subjunctive, which is normally used for future, specific events:

Quando abrir as cortinas, vai sentir logo mais energia.
“When you (later) open the curtains, you’ll immediately feel more energy.”
(Talking about what will happen in the future.)

So:

For habits and general truths → Quando abro…
For future, one-off / specific events → Quando abrir… (usually with a future in the main clause: vai sentir, sentirá, etc.)

How do you pronounce this sentence in European Portuguese?

Here’s an approximate IPA transcription in European Portuguese:

Quando abro as cortinas, sinto logo mais energia para trabalhar.
/ˈkwɐ̃.du ˈa.bɾu ɐʃ kuɾ.ˈti.nɐʃ ˈsĩ.tu ˈlɔ.ɣu ˈmajʃ ẽ.nɨɾ.ˈʒi.ɐ ˈpa.ɾɐ tɾɐ.bɐ.ˈʎaɾ/

Some key points:

Quando: /ˈkwɐ̃.du/ – nasal ɐ̃ in the first syllable.
as before a consonant: /ɐʃ/ → sounds like “uhsh”.
cortinas: ti pronounced like “chee”: /kuɾˈti.nɐʃ/.
sinto: /ˈsĩ.tu/ – nasal ĩ.
logo: /ˈlɔ.ɣu/ – the g is a soft /ɣ/ sound.
energia: /ẽ.nɨɾ.ˈʒi.ɐ/ – nasal ẽ, and gi = /ʒi/ (“zh-ee”).
trabalhar: /tɾɐ.bɐ.ˈʎaɾ/ – lh = /ʎ/, like Italian gli or Spanish ll (palatal “ly”).

Spoken naturally, the words flow together quite a bit, but this gives you the basic sounds to aim for.