Breakdown of Agora eu quero salvar o mundo com um hábito simples.
Questions & Answers about Agora eu quero salvar o mundo com um hábito simples.
You don’t have to say eu. In Portuguese the subject pronoun is often dropped because the verb ending already shows the person.
- Agora eu quero salvar o mundo… – perfectly correct, and it lightly emphasizes I.
- Agora quero salvar o mundo… – also perfectly correct, a bit more neutral/natural in many contexts.
Both are fine in European Portuguese. Saying eu can sound more emphatic, especially in speech: Now *I want to…*
Yes. Agora is fairly flexible:
- Agora eu quero salvar o mundo… – very natural; sets the time first (Now, I want…).
- Eu agora quero salvar o mundo… – also natural; agora emphasizes the change of attitude: I, now, want….
- Eu quero agora salvar o mundo… – possible, but sounds a bit more formal or marked; the agora here focuses the timing of the wanting.
The most neutral everyday version is probably Agora eu quero salvar o mundo… or Agora quero salvar o mundo….
In Portuguese you normally use a definite article with mundo when you mean the world (in general):
- salvar o mundo = save the world
Leaving out the article (salvar mundo) sounds ungrammatical in this sense. Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English, including with many abstract or general nouns:
- a vida = life
- o amor = love
- o mundo = the world
So you almost always need o with mundo in this kind of sentence.
Because salvar here is a direct transitive verb: it takes a direct object with no preposition.
- salvar alguém / salvar alguma coisa
salvar o mundo – direct object
You only get a preposition if the verb or structure specifically requires it, which is not the case here. Salvar ao mundo is not correct Portuguese in this meaning.
In Portuguese, each noun has a grammatical gender that you simply have to learn. Hábito happens to be masculine:
- o hábito, um hábito, hábito simples
Many masculine nouns end in -o, but this is not a perfect rule. Still, it’s a useful clue:
- o livro (book), o carro (car), o hábito (habit)
Feminine nouns often end in -a:
- a casa (house), a mesa (table)
So um hábito simples is correct because hábito is masculine.
Default word order in Portuguese is noun + adjective:
- um hábito simples = a simple habit
- um livro interessante = an interesting book
- uma casa bonita = a beautiful house
Putting the adjective before the noun also exists, but it usually adds nuance (often more subjective, emotional, or stylistic):
- um simples hábito can sound a bit like just a simple habit / merely a habit, with more emphasis or evaluation.
So:
- um hábito simples – neutral description
- um simples hábito – stylistic, might sound a bit more literary or emphatic
Yes, there is a nuance:
- um hábito simples: neutral description – a habit that is simple (not complicated).
- um simples hábito: adds a flavour of mere or nothing more than:
- just a habit / merely a habit, nothing big or complex.
In your sentence, um hábito simples focuses on the simplicity of the habit. Um simples hábito would sound more rhetorical, like: Now I want to save the world with just a habit…
Simples is one of the adjectives that are invariable in gender:
- um hábito simples (masculine singular)
- uma regra simples (feminine singular)
It does change for number, but only in writing you see the plural clearly:
- singular: simples
- plural: simples (spelled the same)
Examples:
- um hábito simples / dois hábitos simples
- uma ideia simples / duas ideias simples
Spoken, the plural is heard in the noun (hábitos, ideias), not in simples itself.
Yes:
- com um hábito simples = with a simple habit
- com hábitos simples = with simple habits
Changes:
- um disappears in the plural.
- hábito → hábitos (add -s).
- simples stays simples (its plural form is the same in writing).
No, not with this meaning. This is a common false friend:
- salvar = to save in the sense of rescue, save, protect from danger, save a file.
- guardar = to keep, store, put away, keep safe, look after.
So:
- salvar o mundo – save the world (from danger, disaster)
- guardar o dinheiro – keep/put away the money
- guardar um segredo – keep a secret
Guardar o mundo does not mean save the world; it would sound wrong in this context.
The verb querer when followed by another verb goes directly with the infinitive (the base verb form) with no preposition:
- quero salvar (I want to save)
- quero aprender (I want to learn)
- queremos viajar (we want to travel)
So quero salvar o mundo is the correct structure.
Forms like quero a salvar or quero de salvar are incorrect in standard Portuguese.
Its basic meaning is now / at this moment:
- Agora eu quero salvar o mundo… – Now I want to save the world.
But agora can also be used:
To mean from now on / these days depending on context:
- Agora trabalho em Lisboa. – I (now) work in Lisbon.
As a discourse marker, a bit like well, now in English:
- Agora, vamos falar de outra coisa. – Now, let’s talk about something else.
In your sentence it’s the straightforward temporal now.
Yes, there’s a small difference in emphasis:
Agora eu quero salvar o mundo…
Focuses on the time frame of your desire: Now (as opposed to before), I want to save the world…
Very natural and common.Eu quero salvar o mundo agora…
Can suggest you want to do the saving right now, at this moment (more on the timing of the action).
Context decides, but the sentence you gave is usually understood more as a change in intention, so Agora eu quero… is the more typical wording.