Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.

If I write in my diary before sleeping, I sleep more relaxed.

Breakdown of Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.

• eu: I
• meu: my
• em: in
• escrever: to write
• mais: more
• antes de: before
• se: if
• dormir: to sleep
• o diário: the diary
• relaxado: relaxed

Questions & Answers about Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.

What is the form of escrever in “Se eu escrever…”, and why is it used here?

Escrever in “Se eu escrever…” is in the future subjunctive (futuro do conjuntivo).

• Future subjunctive of escrever:
  
  • eu escrever
  • tu escreveres
  • ele / ela / você escrever
  • nós escrevermos
  • eles / elas / vocês escreverem

In European Portuguese, the future subjunctive is very common after se (if) when you are talking about a future or repeated possibility:

• Se eu escrever no meu diário… = If I write in my diary (in the future / whenever I do it)…

In English you use the present after if (“If I write…”), but in Portuguese you normally use the future subjunctive in this kind of conditional sentence.

Why isn’t it “Se eu escrevo no meu diário…”?

“Se eu escrevo no meu diário…” is grammatically possible but sounds strange in this context.

• Se eu escrever no meu diário, durmo mais relaxado.
  → Natural way to talk about what happens whenever this future/possible condition is met.

• Se eu escrevo no meu diário…
  Usually suggests something like:

  • expressing a general fact that is already true now
  • or sounding rhetorical / argumentative (e.g., Se eu escrevo no meu diário, é porque preciso organizar as ideias.)

For neutral “If I write in my diary (before going to bed), I sleep more relaxed”, Portuguese strongly prefers future subjunctive: Se eu escrever…

Why not say “Se eu escrever no meu diário…, dormiria mais relaxado” with dormiria (conditional)?

You can say:

• Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, dormirei mais relaxado. (future)
• Se eu escrevesse no meu diário antes de dormir, dormiria mais relaxado. (imperfect subjunctive + conditional; more hypothetical / unreal)

But those mean something slightly different.

Your original sentence:

• Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.

This describes a real, regular relationship: Whenever I do this (now or in the future), I sleep more relaxed. It’s like a general rule or habit.

Using dormiria would sound more like a hypothetical or less certain situation, often implying that you don’t usually do it:

• Se eu escrevesse no meu diário antes de dormir, dormiria mais relaxado.
  → If I wrote (but I don’t), I would sleep more relaxed.

Can I drop the pronoun and say “Se escrever no meu diário…”?

Yes. In European Portuguese it is very natural to omit subject pronouns when the verb form is clear:

• Se escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.

This still clearly means If I write… because escrever (future subjunctive) and durmo both point to eu as the subject. Including eu gives a bit more emphasis: Se eu escrever…

What does “no” in “no meu diário” mean exactly?

No is a contraction of the preposition em (in / on / at) + the masculine singular article o (the):

• em + o = no

So:

• no diário = in the diary
• no meu diário = in my diary (literally: in the my diary)

Portuguese often keeps the article o / a / os / as in front of possessives:

• no meu diário (more common, neutral)
• em meu diário (possible, but sounds more literary/formal; more common in Brazil than in Portugal)

Why is it “meu diário” and not “minha diário”?

Because diário here is a masculine noun in Portuguese.

• o diário = the diary (masculine)
• therefore: meu diário, not minha diário

If it were a feminine noun, you’d use minha:

• a cama → minha cama
• o diário → meu diário

Could diário also mean “newspaper” here?

In this sentence, diário clearly means “diary / journal”, a private notebook.

• um diário = a diary / journal
• um jornal = a newspaper

Diário can be related to newspapers, but usually as an adjective:

• um jornal diário = a daily newspaper

Saying just o diário by itself to mean “the newspaper” is not the normal, everyday way; people say o jornal.

Why is it “antes de dormir” and not a conjugated form like “antes de durmo”?

After antes de (before), Portuguese usually uses the infinitive when it’s just describing the action in general:

• antes de dormir = before sleeping
• antes de comer = before eating

You don’t say antes de durmo, because de + [conjugated verb] is ungrammatical. It must be:

• de + infinitive: de dormir, de comer, de sair, etc.

If you want to explicitly mark the subject, you can say:

• antes de eu dormir = before I sleep (more explicit, a bit more formal)

But the simple antes de dormir is perfectly natural when the subject is the same as the main clause (eu in this sentence).

Why is the main verb durmo (present) and not a future tense like dormirei?

In Portuguese, when describing general truths, habits, or what typically happens if a condition is met, the present indicative is very common:

• Se eu escrever no meu diário…, durmo mais relaxado.
  → Whenever I do this, I sleep more relaxed.

You can say:

• Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, dormirei mais relaxado.
  → more explicitly future-looking (I will sleep more relaxed), but it sounds a bit more “planned” or formal.

Your original version with durmo sounds like a general rule about yourself.

What does “mais relaxado” mean exactly, and why relaxado and not relaxante?

• mais = more
• relaxado = relaxed

So “durmo mais relaxado” = I sleep more relaxed (I am in a more relaxed state when I sleep).

Relaxado describes the state of the person (relaxed).
Relaxante means “relaxing” and usually describes things or activities:

• um banho relaxante = a relaxing bath
• uma música relaxante = relaxing music

So you say:

• fico relaxado = I become / end up relaxed (my state)
• é relaxante = it is relaxing (its effect on others)

How would the sentence change if the speaker is female?

Only the adjective changes to agree with the speaker’s gender:

• Male speaker:
  Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.

• Female speaker:
  Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxada.

Everything else (escrever, diário, durmo) stays the same; only relaxado → relaxada.

Can I say “antes de me deitar” instead of “antes de dormir”?

Yes, that is natural and common:

• Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.
  → …before sleeping…

• Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de me deitar, durmo mais relaxado.
  → …before going to bed / before lying down…

Both are fine. Dormir focuses on sleeping, deitar(-se) focuses on going to bed / lying down.

How do you pronounce “Se eu escrever no meu diário antes de dormir, durmo mais relaxado.” in European Portuguese?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation (non-phonetic, but to guide you):

• Se eu → like s’êu (almost one syllable, the e is very short)
• escrever → esh-crê-VEHR (with a soft “sh”-like s and rolled/flapped r)
• no meu → nu meu (the o in no is quite reduced)
• diário → dee-A-ryu (stress on A; final -rio as ryu)
• antes de → AN-tsh d’ (very short de)
• dormir → dor-MEER (first dor very short)
• durmo → DOOR-mu (stress on dur)
• mais → like English “mice”
• relaxado → he-la-SHA-du (initial r like a guttural h in many EP accents; x here sounds like “sh”)

Spoken naturally, many vowels are reduced or almost swallowed, especially unstressed e at the end of words like de.