Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Alguns amigos vivem com o salário mínimo; ao contrário deles, eu consigo guardar um pouco todos os meses. - Some friends live on the minimum wage; unlike them, I manage to save a bit every month.

Alguns amigos vivem com o salário mínimo.
= Some friends live on the minimum wage. (context decides which friends)
Alguns amigos meus vivem com o salário mínimo.
= Some friends of mine live on the minimum wage. (explicitly “of mine”)
Alguns dos meus amigos vivem com o salário mínimo.
= Some of my friends live on the minimum wage. (a subset of “my friends”)

Nuance:

Alguns amigos is a bit looser: “some friends” (could be mine, could be people I know, or a generic group).
Alguns amigos meus and Alguns dos meus amigos clearly specify that they’re my friends.
In everyday speech, Alguns dos meus amigos is very common and clear.

What’s the difference between vivem (from viver) and moram? Could I say Alguns amigos moram com o salário mínimo?

viver and morar can overlap but are not identical:

viver = to live (in the broader sense: to be alive, to have a way of life, to get by, to live on something)
morar = to live in a place, to reside

In your sentence:

vivem com o salário mínimo means they manage their lives / get by on minimum wage.

If you use morar:

Alguns amigos moram com o salário mínimo sounds odd, because morar focuses on where you live, not how you support yourself.

You would normally use viver with money/income:

viver com o salário mínimo
viver com pouco dinheiro
viver de reformas (live on pensions)

So viver is the right verb here.

Why is it com o salário mínimo when in English we say “live on the minimum wage”?

Prepositions don’t always match across languages.

In Portuguese, to talk about the money you use to survive, you commonly use com (with):

viver com o salário mínimo = live on the minimum wage
viver com muito pouco dinheiro = live on very little money
viver com uma pensão pequena = live on a small pension

So even though English uses on (live on X), Portuguese uses com (viver com X) in this context.

Why do we say o salário mínimo and not just salário mínimo without the article?

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English.

o salário mínimo literally: the minimum wage.

We use the article because salário mínimo is usually treated as a specific, known reference in society, like an institution:

o governo aumentou o salário mínimo
viver com o salário mínimo é difícil

Dropping the article (viver com salário mínimo) is unusual and sounds incomplete in European Portuguese. The standard, natural form is com o salário mínimo.

What exactly does ao contrário deles mean, and how is it formed?

ao contrário deles breaks down like this:

a
- o → ao (contraction)
contrário = opposite / the contrary
deles = of them

Literally: to-the contrary of-them → “in contrast to them / unlike them”.

So:

ao contrário deles, eu consigo guardar…
= unlike them, I manage to save…
= in contrast to them, I manage to save…

You could also say:

ao contrário dos meus amigos, eu consigo guardar…
Em contraste com eles, eu consigo guardar… (more formal)

Why is it deles and not eles in ao contrário deles?

eles is a subject pronoun (they).
deles is a possessive / of-pronoun (of them / their).

Here, deles depends on contrário:

o contrário de quê? → o contrário deles = the opposite of them.

You can’t say ao contrário eles, because you need the preposition de:

ao contrário + de + eles → ao contrário deles

So deles = of them, which is what’s needed after contrário de.

Why is there a semicolon ; before ao contrário deles? Could I use a comma or mas instead?

The semicolon separates two closely related clauses:

Alguns amigos vivem com o salário mínimo;
ao contrário deles, eu consigo guardar um pouco todos os meses.

You could express the same meaning in several ways:

With mas (very common in speech and writing):
- Alguns amigos vivem com o salário mínimo, mas eu, ao contrário deles, consigo guardar um pouco todos os meses.
With just a comma (more informal, often used, but less “correct” in strict punctuation terms):
- Alguns amigos vivem com o salário mínimo, ao contrário deles, eu consigo guardar…
  (This can feel a bit overloaded; adding mas reads better.)

The semicolon here is a stylistic choice to clearly separate but still connect the two ideas.

What does consigo mean exactly, and how is it different from posso?

consigo is the 1st person singular of conseguir (to manage to, to succeed in).

eu consigo guardar = I manage to save / I am able to save (by effort).

posso is from poder (can, may, to be allowed / able).

eu posso guardar could mean “I’m allowed to save” or simply “I can save”.

Nuance:

eu consigo guardar um pouco
suggests I manage to / I succeed in saving a bit, perhaps despite difficulty.
eu posso guardar um pouco
is more neutral: I can save a bit (no special idea of effort).

In your sentence, consigo fits better because it contrasts with the friends who can’t save anything on minimum wage.

Why is guardar used for “save money”? Could I also use poupar?

In European Portuguese:

guardar dinheiro can mean:
- to put money aside and keep it (save), or
- to store/keep money somewhere (e.g. in a drawer).
poupar dinheiro focuses more directly on saving money (not spending it, being economical).

In your sentence:

eu consigo guardar um pouco todos os meses
= I manage to put a bit aside every month (save it).

You could also say:

eu consigo poupar um pouco todos os meses
This is perfectly correct and maybe even a bit more clearly “to save (by not spending)”.

Both are common in European Portuguese here.

What is the difference between um pouco and pouco? Why say um pouco here?

pouco can be an adjective or an adverb meaning “little / not much”.
um pouco is more like “a bit / a little bit / some”.

eu ganho pouco = I earn little (not much).
eu ganho um pouco = I earn a bit / some (not a lot, but not emphasising how small).
guardar pouco dinheiro = save little money (stresses the small amount).
guardar um pouco de dinheiro = save a bit of money.

In the sentence:

eu consigo guardar um pouco todos os meses
sounds softer and more natural: I manage to save a bit every month.

eu consigo guardar pouco todos os meses would sound like you’re stressing how little it is, almost complaining.

Why is it todos os meses and not something like todo mês?

In European Portuguese, the usual way is:

todos os meses = every month / all the months.

Structure:

todo(s) = all / every
os = the (definite article)
meses = months (plural)

So literally: all the months → “every month”.

In Brazilian Portuguese, you very often hear:

todo mês (singular, often without the article) = every month.

In European Portuguese, todos os meses is the most natural standard form.
You usually wouldn’t say em todos os meses here; that sounds too heavy. Todos os meses alone already carries the “every month” idea.