Breakdown of Este exercício repetido cansa-me.
Questions & Answers about Este exercício repetido cansa-me.
In European Portuguese, in a simple affirmative main clause like this, unstressed object pronouns normally go after the verb and are joined with a hyphen (this is called ênclise).
So:
- Este exercício repetido cansa-me. = standard EP word order
- Este exercício repetido me cansa. sounds more Brazilian, and in standard EP it is usually corrected to cansa-me.
In EP, you generally only put the pronoun before the verb (proclisis) if there is a “trigger” such as não, já, também, que, se, quando, porque, etc.
In strictly standard European Portuguese, yes, it is usually considered incorrect or at least non‑standard in this context. The prescriptive rule says:
- In a normal affirmative clause with no proclisis trigger, you should use ênclise → cansa-me.
You will definitely hear me cansa in Portugal (influenced by Brazilian Portuguese and by speech habits), but if you’re learning European Portuguese and want to sound correct in formal writing and careful speech, use cansa-me here.
Cansa is the 3rd person singular, present indicative of the verb cansar (“to tire / to make tired”).
Conjugation in the present (indicative) starts:
- eu canso
- tu cansas
- ele / ela / você cansa
- nós cansamos
- vocês / eles / elas cansam
In this sentence, the subject is este exercício repetido (3rd person singular), so the verb is cansa.
Repetido is agreeing in gender and number with exercício:
- exercício is masculine singular
- adjectives and past participles used as adjectives must match: repetido (masc. sg.)
Other possibilities would be:
- exercícios repetidos (masc. plural)
- tarefa repetida (fem. singular)
- tarefas repetidas (fem. plural)
Formally, repetido is the past participle of repetir, but in this sentence it functions adjectivally (“repeated”).
It describes the kind of exercise: one that is done again and again. It doesn’t point to one specific completed repetition; it highlights the state/characteristic of being repeated (done many times), much like an adjective.
- repetido = repeated, focusing on the fact that it has been done many times.
- repetitivo = repetitive, focusing on the quality of being repetitive, often implying that it is boring or monotonous.
So:
- Este exercício repetido cansa-me. → the fact we repeat this specific exercise (again and again) is what tires me.
- Este exercício repetitivo cansa-me. → the exercise is, by nature, repetitive and that repetitive character makes me tired/bored.
Both can be correct, but they don’t stress exactly the same nuance.
Yes, Este exercício repetitivo cansa-me is perfectly natural and probably more common if you want to complain about how boring/monotonous it is.
Este exercício repetido cansa-me sounds a bit more technical or descriptive, as if you mean “Doing this same exercise again and again is what tires me.”
In Portuguese, adjectives usually go after the noun, especially when they are more descriptive and not strongly emotional or stylistic.
- Normal, neutral order: este exercício repetido
- este repetido exercício sounds poetic, literary, or very marked in style, not like everyday speech.
So for normal usage, put adjectives like repetido, difícil, longo, chato after the noun: exercício repetido, exercício difícil, etc.
The basic idea in European Portuguese is:
- este – “this”: near the speaker / very “current” in time or discourse
- esse – “that”: near the listener, or something just mentioned / slightly more distant
- aquele – “that (over there)”: far from both speaker and listener, or more distant in time/discourse
So:
- If you are doing the exercise right now or have it in front of you: Este exercício repetido cansa-me.
- Referring to something the other person is doing: Esse exercício repetido cansa-te?
- Referring to some older or distant exercise: Aquele exercício repetido que fazíamos na escola cansava-me.
Demonstratives like este, esse, aquele already include the idea of definiteness, so you don’t use the definite article o/a with them:
- este exercício (not este o exercício)
- essa tarefa
- aquele jogo
You would use o when you just have a normal definite noun phrase: o exercício repetido cansa-me.
Yes. The grammar still works, but the meaning shifts a bit:
- Este exercício repetido cansa-me. → This particular exercise we’re talking about (or doing now) tires me.
- O exercício repetido cansa-me. → Repeated exercise (in general) tires me, or a more generic “this kind of exercise tires me.”
So este makes it clearly deictic and specific to the current situation or a clearly identified exercise.
In the negative, não forces the pronoun to come before the verb (proclisis), so you no longer say cansa-me:
- Este exercício repetido não me cansa. → “This repeated exercise doesn’t tire me.”
Here não is a proclisis trigger, so me must come before cansa in standard European Portuguese.
Yes, you can, but the focus is slightly different:
Este exercício repetido cansa-me.
→ The exercise is the subject that causes your tiredness.Eu canso-me com este exercício repetido.
→ You are the subject, and you get tired with this exercise.
Both mean almost the same in practice, but the original sentence highlights the exercise as the thing that “tires you out,” while the reflexive version highlights you getting tired because of it.
Two natural options in European Portuguese are:
Repetir este exercício cansa-me.
→ Literal: “Repeating this exercise tires me.”Fazer este exercício repetidamente cansa-me.
→ “Doing this exercise repeatedly tires me.”
In the original sentence, este exercício repetido compresses that idea into a noun phrase (“this exercise in its ‘repeated’ form”), while Repetir este exercício makes the action itself the subject.