Breakdown of Eu não gosto de rir de amigos quando estão tristes.
Questions & Answers about Eu não gosto de rir de amigos quando estão tristes.
Can I drop Eu and just say Não gosto de rir de amigos quando estão tristes?
Why is não placed before gosto and not somewhere else?
Why is it gosto de rir and not gosto rir?
Why is rir in the infinitive, not something like a gerund (rindo)?
After gostar de, Portuguese uses the infinitive:
- gostar de rir – to like laughing / to like to laugh
- gostar de ler – to like reading / to like to read
The gerund rindo is not used in this structure. Eu não gosto de rindo is wrong.
So Eu não gosto de rir naturally translates as I don’t like laughing / I don’t like to laugh.
In European Portuguese, don’t people usually say rir-se? Should it be rir-se de amigos?
In European Portuguese, rir-se is indeed very common:
A very natural EP version would be:
Both rir de and rir-se de exist; in Portugal, many speakers prefer rir-se de in everyday speech. Your sentence with rir de is grammatically fine, though.
What is the difference between rir de amigos and rir com amigos?
- rir de amigos = to laugh at friends (they are the target of the laughter, often negative or mocking).
- rir com amigos = to laugh with friends (you and your friends are laughing together).
So:
- Eu não gosto de rir de amigos quando estão tristes.
→ I don’t like laughing at friends when they’re sad.
would be very different from:
- Eu gosto de rir com amigos.
→ I like laughing with friends.
Why is it de amigos and not dos amigos or dos meus amigos?
All are possible, but the meaning changes slightly:
- de amigos – a bit more general / indefinite: friends (not strongly specified whose)
- dos amigos (de + os) – more specific: the friends (probably a known group)
- dos meus amigos – clearly my friends.
In real life, most people would probably say:
- Eu não gosto de rir dos meus amigos quando estão tristes.
(I don’t like laughing at my friends when they’re sad.)
Your version is grammatically correct; it just sounds a little more generic.
Why is there no subject pronoun in quando estão tristes? Where is “they”?
In quando estão tristes, the subject is still amigos from the first part of the sentence. Portuguese doesn’t need to repeat the subject pronoun eles:
- Eu não gosto de rir de amigos quando estão tristes.
= I don’t like laughing at friends when they are sad.
You can say quando eles estão tristes, but it’s not required, and usually Portuguese drops it if the reference is clear.
Could I say quando eles estão tristes instead of quando estão tristes?
Why is it estão tristes and not são tristes?
Can I change the word order, like: Quando estão tristes, eu não gosto de rir de amigos?
Is this sentence natural in European Portuguese, or would natives normally say it differently?
It’s understandable and correct, but a very natural European Portuguese version would usually be something like:
Main differences native EP speakers often prefer:
- rir-se instead of just rir
- dos meus amigos (clear “my friends”)
- often adding eles in the second clause is also common, but optional.
Your original sentence is fine as a learner’s sentence; natives might just tweak it for naturalness.
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