Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): O aumento de impostos deixa o Pedro preocupado.

It often sounds more natural in everyday speech than omitting the article. It doesn’t usually add a clear meaning difference; it’s mainly a question of style, region, and register.

So:

O aumento de impostos deixa o Pedro preocupado.
sounds very normal in Portugal.

Using the name without the article is also correct, but tends to sound a bit more formal, written, or “neutral”.

Can I omit the article and just say “deixa Pedro preocupado”? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

O aumento de impostos deixa Pedro preocupado.

The meaning is the same. The difference is:

With article (o Pedro) – very common in informal and semi‑formal European Portuguese, especially in speech.
Without article (Pedro) – somewhat more formal, or more typical of written language (e.g. newspapers, biographies, official texts).

Both are correct in Portugal; it’s mainly a matter of style and register, not grammar.

What exactly does deixa mean here? I thought deixar meant “to leave” or “to let”.

Deixar does have the basic meanings:

deixar = to leave (behind)
deixar = to let / to allow

But it also has a causative meaning: “to make someone be in a certain state”.

In this sentence:

deixar alguém preocupado = to make someone worried / to leave someone worried

So:

O aumento de impostos deixa o Pedro preocupado.
≈ “The tax increase makes Pedro worried / leaves Pedro worried.”

Structure:

deixar + direct object + adjective
→ deixa (makes) o Pedro (object) preocupado (state/result).

Could I say “O aumento de impostos preocupa o Pedro” instead of “deixa o Pedro preocupado”?

Yes, you can. Both are natural, but they have slightly different nuances:

O aumento de impostos preocupa o Pedro.
- Uses the verb preocupar (to worry).
- More direct: “The tax increase worries Pedro.”
- The verb itself encodes the idea of “causing worry”.
O aumento de impostos deixa o Pedro preocupado.
- Uses deixar
  - adjective.
- Literally: “The tax increase leaves/makes Pedro worried.”
- Feels a bit more descriptive of the resulting state of Pedro.

In practice, both are very common and usually interchangeable in everyday speech.

Why is it aumento de impostos and not aumento dos impostos?

Both are possible, but they’re not identical:

aumento de impostos
- Literally “increase of taxes” or “tax increase” in a general sense.
- Sounds like you’re talking about tax increases in general or as a type of thing.
- Often used like a compound noun: aumento de impostos, queda de preços, etc.
aumento dos impostos (de + os → dos)
- Literally “increase of the taxes”.
- Refers more to specific taxes that are known from the context.
- Feels more concrete and particular: the taxes we’re talking about have gone up.

In many real contexts both could fit, but aumento de impostos is a very common, almost fixed expression meaning “tax increase” in general.

Why is impostos in the plural? Could it be aumento de imposto?

Portuguese normally talks about “taxes” in the plural, just like English often does:

pagar impostos – to pay taxes
subida dos impostos – rise in taxes

So:

aumento de impostos = “(an) increase in taxes” / “tax increase” (general).

You could say aumento de imposto, but it would usually mean an increase in one specific tax (e.g. VAT, income tax) and would need a clearer context:

aumento do imposto sobre o tabaco – increase in the tax on tobacco.

Without more context, aumento de impostos is the natural, generic phrase.

What are the subject, object, and other parts of this sentence grammatically?

The structure is:

O aumento de impostos – subject
(“the tax increase”)
deixa – main verb (3rd person singular, present of deixar)
o Pedro – direct object
(“Pedro” – the person affected)
preocupado – object complement / predicative of the object
(an adjective describing the resulting state of o Pedro)

So in English terms:

Subject: the tax increase
Verb: makes/leaves
Object: Pedro
Complement: worried

Why is it preocupado and not something like preocupante?

They are different words:

preocupado
- Adjective from the past participle of preocupar.
- Means “worried” (the person who feels worry).
- Describes Pedro’s emotional state.
preocupante
- Adjective meaning “worrying / alarming” (something that causes worry).
- Describes the thing, not the person.

So:

O Pedro está preocupado. – Pedro is worried.
O aumento de impostos é preocupante. – The tax increase is worrying.

In the original sentence, we’re talking about how Pedro feels, so preocupado is the correct choice.

Why does preocupado end in -o? Would it change with a different person?

Yes. Preocupado is an adjective and has to agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.

Here it describes o Pedro:

o Pedro – masculine singular
→ preocupado – masculine singular

If you change the person:

a Ana → deixa a Ana preocupada
os rapazes → deixa os rapazes preocupados
as raparigas → deixa as raparigas preocupadas

So, the ending of preocupado changes to match the gender/number of the person who is worried.

Could I say “O Pedro fica preocupado com o aumento de impostos” instead?

Yes, that’s another very natural way to say something similar:

O Pedro fica preocupado com o aumento de impostos.
= “Pedro gets/becomes worried about the tax increase.”

Differences in structure:

Original:
- O aumento de impostos deixa o Pedro preocupado.
- Focus on the cause (the tax increase) making Pedro worried.
Alternative:
- O Pedro fica preocupado com o aumento de impostos.
- Focus on Pedro’s reaction/state and the reason for it (com o aumento de impostos).

Both are correct; they just highlight different parts of the situation.

How would I say this with a pronoun instead of o Pedro?

If “Pedro” was already clear from context, you could replace o Pedro with a pronoun.

Using ele (subject pronoun) doesn’t work here, because Pedro is the object, not the subject. You need the object pronoun o.

In European Portuguese, the normal placement in a simple affirmative sentence is after the verb (enclisis):

O aumento de impostos deixa-o preocupado.
= “The tax increase leaves him worried.”

Notes:

deixa + o → deixa-o (with a hyphen)
In European Portuguese, this post‑verb position (deixa-o) is the default in such sentences.

Why is deixa in the present tense? Could it be deixou or deixará?

Deixa is present indicative, 3rd person singular:

(Ele / ela / isso) deixa = he/she/it leaves / makes

Here the present tense expresses either:

A general fact/habit: “Tax increases (in general) make Pedro worried.”
Or something happening now / in the current situation.

You could change the tense depending on what you want to say:

deixou (past):
- O aumento de impostos deixou o Pedro preocupado.
  → “The tax increase left Pedro worried / made Pedro worried.” (in the past)
deixará (future):
- O aumento de impostos deixará o Pedro preocupado.
  → “The tax increase will make Pedro worried.”

The original uses the present because it’s presenting this as a current or general truth.

Is this sentence the same in Brazilian Portuguese, or would it sound different?

The sentence is perfectly understandable in Brazilian Portuguese, but there are some typical differences in usage:

Article before name
- In Brazil, saying “deixa o Pedro preocupado” is possible, but using the article with first names is less common and can be regional or sound more colloquial.
- Many Brazilians would naturally say:
  “O aumento de impostos deixa Pedro preocupado.”
Pronoun placement (if you used one)
- EP: deixa-o preocupado
- BP (especially spoken): often o deixa preocupado (pronoun before the verb).

The original sentence is most typical of European Portuguese, especially with o Pedro and, if used, deixa-o.