Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): A música do filme inspira os meus amigos. - The music of the film inspires my friends.

If you were talking in a very general way, you could sometimes drop the article (for example Música clássica é calma), but when you identify something with a complement like do filme, you practically always keep the article: A música do filme.

What exactly does do mean in do filme?

Do is a contraction of de + o (of/from + the).

de = of / from
o = the (masculine singular)
do = of the / from the

So do filme literally means of the film. In this sentence it can be understood as from the film (the film’s music / the film music). If the noun were feminine, it would be da (de + a), as in a música da série (the music from the series).

Why is the verb inspira in the singular if os meus amigos is plural?

In Portuguese, the verb agrees with the grammatical subject, just like in English.

The subject here is A música do filme (singular), not os meus amigos. So the verb must be third person singular: inspira.

If you changed the subject to plural, the verb would change too:

As músicas do filme inspiram os meus amigos.
(The songs from the film inspire my friends.)

Can I change the word order, like moving os meus amigos earlier in the sentence?

The neutral, most natural order is exactly what you have:

A música do filme inspira os meus amigos.

You can move elements for emphasis, but it becomes more marked or literary:

Os meus amigos, a música do filme inspira-os. (very emphatic, somewhat literary)

In everyday European Portuguese, you normally keep the subject–verb–object order here and don’t say Inspira os meus amigos a música do filme in neutral speech; that sounds stylistically inverted.

Why is it os meus amigos and not just meus amigos?

In European Portuguese, it is very common (and usually more natural) to use an article before possessives:

os meus amigos
a minha casa
as nossas ideias

You can sometimes omit the article (meus amigos) for stylistic reasons or in fixed expressions, but in standard everyday European Portuguese, os meus amigos is the default and sounds more complete. In Brazilian Portuguese, dropping the article (meus amigos) is much more common.

How do I choose between meus amigos, minhas amigas, etc.?

The possessive agrees with the thing possessed, not with the person who owns it.

meu / minha – my (singular)
meus / minhas – my (plural)

And the noun has its own gender:

amigo (male friend) → o meu amigo / os meus amigos
amiga (female friend) → a minha amiga / as minhas amigas

So:

os meus amigos – my (all male / mixed group) friends
as minhas amigas – my (all female) friends

The sentence uses os meus amigos, so it’s talking about a group that is at least partly male.

Could I say A música do filme inspira para os meus amigos?

No. The verb inspirar in the sense of to inspire someone takes a direct object in Portuguese, not para:

A música do filme inspira os meus amigos. ✅
A música do filme inspira para os meus amigos. ❌

You would use para if you changed the structure, for example with an adjective:

A música do filme é inspiradora para os meus amigos.
(The film’s music is inspiring for my friends.)

Does inspira here mean inspires or is inspiring in English?

The Portuguese present simple (inspira) covers both English inspires and is inspiring, depending on context.

So A música do filme inspira os meus amigos can be understood as:

The music from the film inspires my friends.
or
The music from the film is inspiring my friends.

You only switch to a progressive form in Portuguese (está a inspirar) when you really need to emphasise that something is happening right now and is ongoing.

Is a música do filme the same as a banda sonora do filme?

Not exactly, though they can overlap.

a música do filme – the music from the film (could refer to a particular theme, a song, or the music in general)
a banda sonora do filme – the film’s soundtrack as a whole (all the music used in the film, as a complete set)

In everyday conversation, people often say a música do filme even when they really mean the soundtrack, but banda sonora is the more precise term for the full soundtrack.

How should I pronounce A música do filme inspira os meus amigos in European Portuguese?

Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation (using English-like hints):

A – like uh
música – MOO-zee-kuh (first syllable stressed: MÚ-si-ca)
do – close to doo but shorter and less rounded
filme – FEEL-m(ə) (e is very reduced, almost like a light uh or nearly silent)
inspira – een-SPEE-ruh (stress on -SPI-)
os – often sounds like oosh in European Portuguese
meus – something like maysh (the final s is often sh in Portugal)
amigos – uh-MEE-goosh (stress on -MI-, final s = sh sound)

Spoken quickly, many vowels reduce, especially final e and unstressed o/a.

Can I say os amigos meus instead of os meus amigos?

You can, but the meaning and feel are slightly different.

os meus amigos – neutral: my friends (straightforward)
amigos meus / os amigos meus – more like friends of mine, often with a nuance of some of my friends or used for contrast or emphasis.

So A música do filme inspira os amigos meus is possible, but it sounds a bit marked and less neutral than os meus amigos in most contexts.

If I want to say The music from the film inspired my friends, how do I change the sentence?

You just change the tense of the verb inspirar to the preterite (simple past):

A música do filme inspirou os meus amigos.

Similarly:

inspira = inspires / is inspiring
inspirou = inspired
inspirará = will inspire → A música do filme inspirará os meus amigos.

In European Portuguese, would I say A música do filme inspira-me or A música do filme me inspira?

In European Portuguese, the normal unstressed pronoun placement (without special triggers) is after the verb:

A música do filme inspira-me. ✅

A música do filme me inspira sounds Brazilian. In Portugal, this kind of pronoun-before-verb order usually needs a trigger (like não, já, que, etc.), for example:

A música do filme não me inspira. (The film’s music doesn’t inspire me.)

So for the structure in your original sentence, European Portuguese prefers inspira-me, not me inspira.