Breakdown of Ela estuda alemão na universidade e português em casa.
Questions & Answers about Ela estuda alemão na universidade e português em casa.
Estuda is the present tense, 3rd person singular (he/she) of estudar (to study).
- estudar = to study (infinitive)
- eu estudo = I study
- ele/ela estuda = he/she studies
Because the subject is ela (she), the verb must be estuda:
Ela estuda alemão... = She studies German...
Portuguese is a pro‑drop language, so the subject pronoun is often omitted when the verb ending makes the subject clear.
- Ela estuda alemão... – fully explicit, neutral.
- Estuda alemão... – also correct; sounds slightly more compact or contextual, often used when the subject is already known from previous sentences.
You cannot drop ela when it would cause ambiguity (e.g., if several people are being discussed and the context isn’t clear), but grammatically both versions are fine.
In Portuguese, names of languages and nationalities are not capitalized unless they start a sentence:
- alemão, português, inglês, francês
- português (person), alemão (person), etc.
Capital letters are used for country names and other proper nouns:
Portugal, Alemanha, Inglaterra.
Alemão can be both:
The language:
- Estuda alemão. = She studies German (language).
A German man (nationality):
- Ele é alemão. = He is German.
For a German woman you say alemã:
- Ela é alemã. = She is German (female).
Plural forms:
- alemães (German men / mixed group)
- alemãs (German women)
With verbs like falar, estudar, aprender, saber, ensinar, traduzir, Portuguese often omits the article before language names:
- Ela estuda alemão.
- Falo português.
- Eles estão a aprender inglês.
However, when the language is used more like a normal noun (subject of the sentence, with adjectives, etc.), the article is common:
- O alemão é uma língua difícil.
- O português de Portugal é diferente do português do Brasil.
In European Portuguese, both patterns exist, but in this sentence, no article is the natural choice.
Na is a contraction of the preposition em (in/at) + the feminine singular article a (the):
- em + a = na → na universidade = in/at the university
- (for reference: em + o = no, em + as = nas, em + os = nos)
So em a universidade is grammatically wrong; it must contract to na universidade.
They use different prepositions:
na universidade = in/at the university
- em + a (location / where someone is)
à universidade = to the university
- a + a → à (motion / direction)
Examples:
- Ela está na universidade. = She is at the university.
- Ela vai à universidade. = She goes to the university.
Em casa is an idiomatic expression meaning “at home”. It normally appears without an article:
- Estou em casa. = I am at home.
- Ela estuda português em casa. = She studies Portuguese at home.
Na casa (em + a casa) means “in the house / at the house”, referring to a specific house:
- Ela estuda na casa da avó. = She studies at her grandmother’s house.
So in your sentence, em casa is the natural way to say at home.
That word order is grammatically possible but sounds unnatural and confusing.
Standard, natural order in Portuguese is:
- Verb
- Direct object
- Place/time phrases
So:
- Ela estuda alemão na universidade e português em casa. ✅ (natural)
Switching the objects and place phrases as in your version disrupts the flow and makes the sentence harder to process. Use the original order.
Yes, especially in European Portuguese, you can say:
- Ela está a estudar alemão na universidade e português em casa.
Difference in nuance:
- Ela estuda... – simple present; can express habitual action or general fact (she studies these subjects as a regular activity).
- Ela está a estudar... – present progressive; focuses on an ongoing action in this period of time, often more temporary.
Both are correct; the original sentence sounds more like a general routine (e.g., describing her degree and her study habits).
In alemão:
- The ã has a tilde (~) indicating a nasal vowel.
- The acute accent (´) here is part of that same ã; it marks stress and nasalization.
Pronunciation (European Portuguese, roughly):
- alemão ≈ “a-le-MAUN” (with the last vowel nasal, like French bon or the oun in French marron).
The stress falls on -mão. Without the tilde, alemao would be pronounced very differently and would be incorrect spelling.
In this sentence, e (meaning and) is pronounced like [i], similar to the English “ee” in see:
- ...universidade e português... ≈ “universidadi ee português”.
Regarding punctuation:
- Portuguese normally does not use a comma before e in a simple list or between two closely linked clauses:
- Ela estuda alemão na universidade e português em casa. (no comma)
A comma before e appears only in specific, more complex structures, not here.
Universidade is grammatically feminine, so it takes a / uma and contracts to na with em:
- a universidade = the university
- na universidade = in/at the university
There is no perfect rule, but some patterns:
- Many nouns ending in -dade, -ção, -agem are feminine:
- cidade, universidade, informação, viagem.
You usually learn the gender together with the noun, using the article:
a universidade, o hospital, a escola, o colégio, etc.
Yes, you can say:
- Ela estuda alemão e português na universidade e em casa.
This version is more ambiguous:
- It could mean she studies both German and Portuguese both at university and at home.
The original sentence is more precise:
- Ela estuda alemão na universidade e português em casa.
→ German only at the university, Portuguese only at home.
So choose based on what you want to say.