Eu tento aprender com o passado.

I try to learn from the past.

Breakdown of Eu tento aprender com o passado.

• eu: I
• com: with
• tentar: to try
• aprender: to learn
• o passado: the past

Questions & Answers about Eu tento aprender com o passado.

Why is the verb tento used here, and what form is it?

Tento is the 1st person singular, present tense, indicative of the verb tentar (to try).

• tentar → to try
• eu tento → I try / I am trying

In European Portuguese, the simple present (eu tento) often covers both English I try and I am trying, depending on context. So the sentence naturally uses tento in the present indicative to express a general habit or attitude.

Is the subject pronoun eu really necessary, or can it be omitted?

Eu is not strictly necessary here. You can say:

• Eu tento aprender com o passado.
• Tento aprender com o passado.

Both are correct.

Portuguese is a “null-subject” language: the verb ending -o in tento already shows the subject is eu (I).

Including eu can:

• Add a bit of emphasis (I try, as opposed to others).
• Sound slightly more explicit or contrasty, depending on context.

In everyday speech, you’ll often hear the pronoun omitted unless there is some contrast or emphasis.

Why is aprender in the infinitive form and not conjugated like aprendo?

After tentar, you normally use the infinitive:

• tentar + infinitive → tento aprender, tentas aprender, tentam aprender, etc.

So you say:

• Eu tento aprender (I try to learn)
  not
• Eu tento aprendo (incorrect)

The pattern is similar to English try to + verb, where the second verb stays in its base form (try to learn, not try learn conjugated).

Could I say “tento de aprender” instead of “tento aprender”?

No. Tentar is followed directly by the infinitive, without a preposition:

• ✅ tentar aprender
• ❌ tentar de aprender

So:

• ✅ Eu tento aprender com o passado.
• ❌ Eu tento de aprender com o passado.

Using de here is a common mistake for learners, but it is ungrammatical.

Why is it com o passado and not do passado? In English we say “learn from the past”.

Literally, com o passado means “with the past”, but in this context com is used in the same way English uses from in learn from.

• aprender com alguém / com algo → to learn from someone / from something
  
  • Aprendo com os meus erros. → I learn from my mistakes.
  • Aprendemos com a experiência. → We learn from experience.

You can see aprender do passado in some contexts, but:

• aprender com o passado is the most natural, idiomatic way to say learn from the past.
• aprender do passado may sound more like “learn (something) of/from the past” in a more abstract or literary sense, and is far less common in this everyday idea.

Why is there an article: o passado and not just passado?

In Portuguese, abstract nouns (like o passado, a vida, o amor) often take the definite article where English does not:

• o passado → (the) past
• a vida → (the) life
• o amor → (the) love

Here, o passado is the general, known concept of “the past”, and the article is the default, natural choice.

You could say aprender com passado, but it sounds odd or incomplete in standard European Portuguese; the article o is normally required.

Can I change the word order, like “Eu aprendo tentar com o passado” or “Eu tento com o passado aprender”?

No, those orders are either incorrect or very unnatural.

The standard and natural order is:

• [subject] + [conjugated verb] + [infinitive] + [rest]
  → Eu tento aprender com o passado.

Problems with your examples:

• Eu aprendo tentar com o passado

  • Here aprendo (I learn) becomes the main verb and tentar the infinitive. That would mean something like “I learn to try with the past”, which doesn’t make sense.

• Eu tento com o passado aprender

  • In European Portuguese, placing the infinitive (aprender) after the complement (com o passado) is very unusual and sounds awkward.

So stick to Eu tento aprender com o passado.

How would I say “I tried to learn from the past” or “I will try to learn from the past”?

You keep aprender com o passado the same and change the tense of tentar:

• Past (preterite):

  • Eu tentei aprender com o passado. → I tried to learn from the past.

• Future (simple future):

  • Eu tentarei aprender com o passado. → I will try to learn from the past.
    In everyday speech, people also use:
  • Eu vou tentar aprender com o passado. → I’m going to try to learn from the past.

The structure tentar + infinitive stays constant; only the conjugation of tentar changes.

Is there a difference between tentar aprender and procurar aprender in this kind of sentence?

Both can appear in similar meanings, but there’s a nuance:

• tentar aprender → to try to learn (focus on the effort/attempt)
• procurar aprender → literally to seek to learn; often suggests actively looking for ways to learn (reading, asking, experiencing, etc.)

So you could say:

• Eu procuro aprender com o passado.
  This often sounds a bit more like “I seek to learn / I make it a point to learn from the past”, whereas tento is more neutral “I try”.

Is there a difference between the European Portuguese “Eu tento aprender com o passado” and what a Brazilian would say?

Grammatically, the sentence is fine in both varieties; a Brazilian will fully understand and can say:

• Eu tento aprender com o passado.

The main differences are:

• In Brazil, for a progressive, ongoing idea, speakers might also often use:
  • Eu estou tentando aprender com o passado.
• In Portugal, the equivalent progressive form is:
  • Eu estou a tentar aprender com o passado.

But your original sentence in the simple present is perfectly natural in European Portuguese and also acceptable in Brazilian Portuguese.