Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): A psicóloga ensinou-me a respirar profundamente, contando até quatro e deixando o ar sair devagar. - The psychologist taught me to breathe deeply, counting to four and letting the air out slowly.

In European Portuguese, the default position of unstressed object pronouns (like me, te, lhe) in a normal affirmative sentence is after the verb, attached with a hyphen. This is called enclisis.

A psicóloga ensinou-me… = The psychologist taught me…
This is the natural, standard order in Portugal.

Putting the pronoun before the verb (me ensinou) is more typical of Brazilian Portuguese, where proclisis (pronoun before the verb) is much more common:

(Brazil) A psicóloga me ensinou a respirar profundamente.

In European Portuguese, A psicóloga me ensinou… is possible but feels marked; it usually needs a word that attracts the pronoun, like não, já, que, se, etc.:

A psicóloga não me ensinou isso.
A psicóloga que me ensinou isso…

So in this neutral, affirmative sentence, ensinou-me is the expected EP form.

Why is there a hyphen in ensinou-me?

The hyphen marks that me is a clitic pronoun attached to the verb in enclisis (after the verb).

In writing, Portuguese has clear rules:

Pronoun after a conjugated verb → use a hyphen
- ensinou-me, disse-te, mostrou-lhes
Pronoun before a conjugated verb → no hyphen
- me ensinou, te disse, lhes mostrou

So ensinou-me follows the regular rule for verb + attached pronoun in European Portuguese spelling.

Why is it a respirar and not just respirar after ensinou-me?

With ensinar (to teach), Portuguese normally uses the structure:

ensinar alguém a + infinitive
teach someone to + verb

So:

ensinar alguém a respirar = to teach someone to breathe
ensinar alguém a conduzir = to teach someone to drive
ensinar alguém a cozinhar = to teach someone to cook

You would not normally say ensinou-me respirar. The preposition a is part of the standard pattern:

A psicóloga ensinou-me a respirar profundamente.
= The psychologist taught me to breathe deeply.

This is one of those verb patterns it’s useful to memorize:
ensinar alguém a + infinitive.

What exactly is contando doing here, and how does it translate?

Contando is the gerund form of contar (to count), like English counting.

In this sentence:

contando até quatro ≈ by counting to four / while counting to four

It’s an adverbial gerund phrase, describing how you should breathe:

a respirar profundamente, contando até quatro
= to breathe deeply, counting to four (as you inhale/exhale)

The gerund in Portuguese often corresponds to English -ing forms like:

falando baixo = speaking quietly
andando depressa = walking quickly

Here, contando até quatro tells you the technique or method used while breathing.

Why is contando not preceded by a, while a respirar is?

Because a respirar and contando play different grammatical roles:

a respirar: infinitive with a, directly governed by the verb ensinar
- pattern: ensinar alguém a + infinitive
contando: gerund, forming a separate phrase that describes how the action is done

So:

ensinou-me a respirar profundamente
= taught me to breathe deeply (main complement)
(e) contou-me a respirar profundamente, contando até quatro
= … counting to four (additional detail of manner)

You would not say a contando here; a + infinitive and the gerund are two different forms:

a contar = to count
contando = counting

The author chose the gerund contando to sound natural and fluid, like English “breathing deeply, counting to four…”.

Could we say e deixar o ar sair devagar instead of deixando o ar sair devagar? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

…a respirar profundamente, e deixar o ar sair devagar.

But it slightly changes the feel of the sentence.

With gerund (original):
- …a respirar profundamente, contando até quatro e deixando o ar sair devagar.
  The gerunds contando and deixando link very closely to a respirar and describe how that breathing is done. It feels like one smooth procedure.
With infinitive + e:
- …a respirar profundamente e deixar o ar sair devagar.
  Now it sounds a bit more like two separate steps taught by the psychologist:
  - to breathe deeply
  - and to let the air out slowly

Both are grammatically correct; the version with contando/deixando is more continuous and descriptive, like English “breathing deeply, counting to four and letting the air out slowly”.

Why is it deixando o ar sair and not deixando sair o ar? Are both possible?

Both orders are grammatically possible:

deixando o ar sair devagar
deixando sair o ar devagar

The difference is mostly one of focus and naturalness:

deixando o ar sair devagar
– more common; keeps o ar (the air) close to deixando, so the structure is:
deixar + [object] + [infinitive]
= let the air go out slowly
deixando sair o ar devagar
– still correct; it slightly foregrounds the action sair and then names what is going out (o ar). It can sound a bit more marked, less neutral.

In everyday speech and writing, deixar + object + infinitive (as in the original sentence) is very natural:

deixar os músculos relaxar
deixar o corpo cair
deixar o ar sair

What does deixar mean here in deixando o ar sair devagar?

Here deixar means to let / to allow, not “to leave behind”.

deixar o ar sair devagar
= to let the air come out slowly

Common patterns with this meaning:

deixar alguém falar = let someone speak
deixar os músculos relaxar = let the muscles relax
deixar a água correr = let the water run

There is also another construction with deixar que + subjunctive:

deixar que o ar saia devagar
– also “let the air come out slowly”, but more formal/structural and less used in this kind of simple instruction.

The version with deixar + infinitive (deixar o ar sair) is the most natural here.

What is the nuance of devagar compared to lentamente?

Both devagar and lentamente mean slowly, but they differ in tone and register:

devagar
- very common in speech
- sounds natural and everyday
- used a lot in instructions and conversation
  - Fala devagar. = Speak slowly.
  - Anda devagar. = Walk slowly.
lentamente
- more formal / neutral
- often appears in writing, technical descriptions, or when you want to sound a bit more “elevated”
  - Respire lentamente. = Breathe slowly.

In this context (a psychologist giving calm, practical instructions), devagar feels perfectly natural and warm.
Lentamente would also be correct; it would just sound a little more formal.

Why does the sentence say o ar (the air) and not just ar?

Portuguese tends to use definite articles (o, a, os, as) more often than English, especially for:

parts of the body
things that are clearly defined in context
processes involving something already known to both speaker and listener

Here, o ar is not “air in general”; it refers specifically to the air you have just inhaled during the breathing exercise. So:

deixar o ar sair devagar
= let the air (you inhaled) come out slowly

Using the article makes it feel more concrete and specific. In English we normally just say let the air out slowly too, so in this case both languages line up fairly well.

Why is it psicóloga and not psicólogo?

Portuguese nouns for professions usually have masculine and feminine forms:

psicólogo = (male) psychologist / generic masculine
psicóloga = female psychologist

Here, psicóloga tells us the psychologist is female.

Spelling details:

The accent in psicóloga shows that the stress falls on -có-:
psi-CÓ-lo-ga
Feminine is formed by changing -o → -a:
psicólogo → psicóloga

If the psychologist were male (or if we were using a generic masculine), we’d say:

O psicólogo ensinou-me a respirar profundamente…

Is the p in psicóloga pronounced in European Portuguese?

Yes, in European Portuguese the p in psicóloga is normally pronounced, though lightly:

Approximate EP pronunciation: [psi-KÓ-lo-ga]

So you get something like:

p
- s at the start: both consonants are heard
Stress on có: psi-CÓ-lo-ga

In Brazilian Portuguese, many speakers do not pronounce the p in everyday speech and say it more like [si-KÓ-lo-ga], but in European Portuguese the p is typically audible.

Is there any important difference between European and Brazilian Portuguese in this sentence?

The main difference would be pronoun placement and a bit of style:

European Portuguese (natural):
- A psicóloga ensinou-me a respirar profundamente, contando até quatro e deixando o ar sair devagar.
Brazilian Portuguese (more natural):
- A psicóloga me ensinou a respirar profundamente, contando até quatro e deixando o ar sair devagar.

Key points:

Pronoun position
- EP: ensinou-me (pronoun after the verb, with hyphen)
- BP: me ensinou (pronoun before the verb, no hyphen)
Vocabulary / structure
- All words here (psicóloga, respirar profundamente, contando, deixando, o ar, devagar) are fully normal in both varieties.
- A Brazilian psychologist might also say respirar fundo instead of respirar profundamente, but both exist in both varieties.

So the sentence as written is particularly characteristic of European Portuguese because of ensinou-me.