Breakdown of Eu escrevo um poema romântico no meu caderno.
Questions & Answers about Eu escrevo um poema romântico no meu caderno.
You can absolutely drop Eu and say:
- Escrevo um poema romântico no meu caderno.
Portuguese is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending (-o in escrevo) already shows who the subject is, so the subject pronoun is often omitted.
Use Eu mainly when:
- you want to emphasize the subject:
Eu escrevo um poema, não tu. (I’m the one writing a poem, not you.) - you need to avoid ambiguity (much less common with eu, more with ele/ela).
In a neutral context, Escrevo um poema romântico no meu caderno is perfectly natural.
Escrevo is present indicative (presente do indicativo) of escrever.
In Portuguese, this tense covers both:
- habitual/general actions:
Eu escrevo poemas românticos. = I (usually) write romantic poems. - actions happening right now (especially in European Portuguese):
O que fazes? – Escrevo um poema romântico.
What are you doing? – I’m writing a romantic poem.
If you really want to underline “right now”, you can use a progressive form:
- Estou a escrever um poema romântico. (EP – standard in Portugal)
- (In Brazil: Estou escrevendo um poema romântico.)
Escrever is a regular -er verb. Present indicative:
- eu escrevo – I write
- tu escreves – you write (informal singular, mainly Portugal)
- ele/ela você escreve – he/she/you write
- nós escrevemos – we write
- vocês escrevem – you (plural) write
- eles/elas escrevem – they write
Your sentence uses eu escrevo (1st person singular).
Um is the indefinite article (a / an). You use it when the thing is not specific or not previously known:
- Eu escrevo um poema romântico.
I’m writing a romantic poem (some poem, not a specific one you and I already know about).
Compare:
- Eu escrevo o poema romântico.
I write the romantic poem (a particular poem already identified in the context). - Eu escrevo poemas românticos.
I write romantic poems (in general; no article because it’s plural and generic).
Writing ∅ poema (without any article) is not correct here.
In Portuguese, the default position of adjectives is after the noun:
- um poema romântico – a romantic poem
- um livro interessante – an interesting book
Putting the adjective before the noun is possible, but:
- it’s less common,
- often sounds more poetic/literary, or
- can slightly change the nuance.
For example:
- um grande poeta = a great poet (figurative)
- um poeta grande = a big/tall poet (literal size)
With romântico, um poema romântico is the normal, neutral order.
Um romântico poema would sound very poetic and unusual in everyday speech.
Adjectives must agree with the grammatical gender of the noun, not its ending.
- poema is masculine in Portuguese: o poema, um poema.
- Therefore the adjective must be masculine singular: romântico.
Some masculine nouns end in -a:
- o problema – the problem
- o tema – the theme
- o mapa – the map
All of these take masculine adjectives:
- um problema sério
- um tema importante
- um mapa antigo
So: um poema romântico is correct.
No is a contraction of the preposition em (in/on/at) + the masculine singular article o (the):
- em + o = no
So:
- no caderno = in/on the notebook
- no meu caderno = in/on my notebook
Other forms:
- na = em + a (feminine singular): na mesa – on the table
- nos = em + os (masc. plural): nos livros – in the books
- nas = em + as (fem. plural): nas caixas – in the boxes
Portuguese em / no / na can correspond to English in, on, or at, depending on context.
In this sentence:
- Eu escrevo um poema romântico no meu caderno.
we naturally understand it as:
- in my notebook (i.e. inside, on the pages).
If you wanted “on top of the notebook” (on the cover, physically on it), you’d normally specify:
- em cima do meu caderno – on top of my notebook.
So:
- no meu caderno with escrever is interpreted as in my notebook.
All three exist, but they sound different:
no meu caderno – in my notebook
- Most natural and common option in European Portuguese.
- Uses the contraction no and the possessive meu.
em meu caderno – in my notebook
- Possible, but in European Portuguese it sounds formal or literary.
- More common in written language or in Brazilian Portuguese.
no caderno – in the notebook
- Refers to a specific notebook already known from the context, but it doesn’t say whose it is.
- Example:
Abre o caderno. Escreve o poema no caderno.
Open the notebook. Write the poem in the notebook.
For everyday speech in Portugal, no meu caderno is the standard choice for “in my notebook”.
You can change the order:
- Eu escrevo um poema romântico no meu caderno. (most neutral)
- Eu escrevo no meu caderno um poema romântico.
The second is grammatically correct, but:
- it sounds slightly more marked or stylistic,
- it may put a bit more emphasis on no meu caderno (where you write).
In normal conversation, the original order (verb + direct object + place) is more natural:
- [escrevo] [um poema romântico] [no meu caderno]
Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation:
escrevo ≈ esh-KREH-voo
- es-: like “esh” (s often sounds like “sh” before consonants in EP)
- -cre-: like “kreh”
- -vo: like “voo”
romântico ≈ roo-MUN-ti-coo
- ro-: like “roo”
- -mã-: nasal ã, similar to “uh” in “sun” but nasalized
- -ti-: in European Portuguese, often close to “chee” (tch) before i
- -co: like “koo”
The tilde (~) on ã indicates a nasal vowel. Air flows through your nose as well as your mouth; it’s not followed by a pronounced n or m sound. Other examples:
- pão – bread
- irmã – sister
- mãe – mother
Caderno is a paper notebook (for writing in):
- um caderno de linhas – a lined notebook
- um caderno de exercícios – an exercise book
It is not used for a laptop computer. For a laptop, in Portugal you’d usually say:
- um portátil – a laptop
- or um computador portátil
So in this sentence, caderno clearly means a paper notebook.