Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Nós estudamos português num banco no jardim. - We study Portuguese on a bench in the garden.

Estudamos → the ending -amos clearly shows “we” (1st person plural, present tense).
So Estudamos português num banco no jardim. is perfectly correct and very natural.

When do people keep Nós?

Emphasis or contrast
- Nós estudamos português, eles estudam espanhol.
  We study Portuguese, they study Spanish.
Clarity in longer or confusing sentences

In a short sentence like yours, most Europeans would drop Nós in casual speech and writing unless they want to stress we.

Is estudamos present or past? What’s the difference between estudamos and estudámos?

In European Portuguese spelling:

Estudamos (no accent) = present tense
→ We study / We are studying.
Estudámos (with á) = past tense (pretérito perfeito)
→ We studied.

So:

Nós estudamos português. → We study Portuguese.
Nós estudámos português. → We studied Portuguese.

In speech, European Portuguese also pronounces them differently:

estudamos (present): stress on -da- → es-tu-DA-mos
estudámos (past): stress on -dá- → es-tu-DÁ-mos

Your sentence Nós estudamos português num banco no jardim. is present tense.

Why isn’t português capitalized like Portuguese in English?

In Portuguese:

Languages are written with lowercase:
- português, inglês, francês, espanhol…
Nationalities used as adjectives or nouns are also lowercase:
- um aluno português – a Portuguese student
- os portugueses – the Portuguese (people)

You only capitalize Portuguese when it starts a sentence or is part of a proper name (e.g. Museu da Língua Portuguesa).

So in the middle of a normal sentence, português stays lowercase.

Why don’t we say o português? Why is it just estudamos português?

Both are possible, but they’re used in slightly different ways.

Without article – very common for languages after “estudar”
- Estudamos português.
- Ela estuda inglês.
  This is the most natural and general way to say We study Portuguese / She studies English.
With article – more specific or slightly more formal/academic
- Estudamos o português de Portugal.
- Estudamos o português ao nível avançado.

In everyday speech, after estudar, people normally drop the article with languages:

Estudo português e espanhol. (most common)
Estudo o português e o espanhol. (possible, a bit more formal/specific)

So your sentence without o is exactly what you want for normal conversation.

What does num mean? Is it one word or two?

Num is a contraction of two words:

em (in / on / at) + um (a / one) → em um → num

So:

num banco = em um banco = on a / in a bank/bench

In European Portuguese, the contracted form is by far the most common in speech and writing:

num banco (almost always)
em um banco (technically correct but sounds unusual/overly careful in Portugal)

The feminine version is:

em uma → numa
- numa cadeira – on a chair

What’s the difference between num banco and no banco?

Two things change: the article (indefinite vs. definite) and the contraction.

num banco
- em
  - um → num
- um = a / one (indefinite)
- num banco = on a bench / in a bank (not a specific one you already know)
no banco
- em
  - o → no
- o = the (definite)
- no banco = at the bank / on the bench (a particular, known one)

Compare:

Estudamos português num banco no jardim.
We study Portuguese on a bench in the garden.
→ some bench in that garden, not specified which.
Estudamos português no banco do jardim.
We study Portuguese on the garden’s bench.
→ a specific bench that is associated with that garden.

In num banco, does banco mean bench or bank (the financial place)?

Banco can mean bench or bank (financial institution). Context tells you which one.

In this sentence, num banco no jardim, the natural reading is:

banco = bench, because it’s in a jardim (garden/park).

If it were a financial bank, you would typically say:

no banco (at the bank), possibly with more context:
- Trabalhamos no banco. – We work at the bank.
- Tenho dinheiro no banco. – I have money in the bank.

Some hints:

banco (bench):
- often with places like no jardim, no parque, na praça.
banco (financial):
- with context about money, accounts, salaries, loans, etc.

Here, with no jardim, everybody will assume it means bench.

Why do we say no jardim and not just em jardim? What is no exactly?

No is another contraction:

em (in / on / at) + o (the) → no

So:

no jardim = em o jardim = in the garden

Portuguese very often uses a definite article with places, where English might use no article:

no jardim – in the garden
na escola – at school
no banco – at the bank
na praia – at the beach

Em jardim (without article) is unusual and normally wrong in this kind of sentence. You almost always need the article:

✔ no jardim
✘ em jardim (sounds wrong here)

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Nós estudamos português no jardim num banco?

Portuguese word order is usually fairly similar to English (Subject–Verb–Object–Place), but you have some flexibility with the place expressions.

All of these are grammatically correct:

Nós estudamos português num banco no jardim.
Nós estudamos português no jardim num banco.
No jardim, nós estudamos português num banco.
Num banco no jardim, nós estudamos português.

Differences:

1 (your original) is the most natural and neutral.
3 / 4 move the place to the beginning for emphasis or style:
- No jardim, nós estudamos… → emphasis on in the garden.

Generally:

Keep “estudamos português” together.
Then add location phrases: num banco, no jardim, in whichever order best reflects what you want to emphasize; most speakers would prefer the original order.

Could this sentence ever mean We studied Portuguese (past), or is it only We study Portuguese (present)?

As written with estudamos (no accent), in standard European Portuguese it is only present:

Nós estudamos português… → We study / We are studying Portuguese…

To express the past (We studied) in European Portuguese, you must write:

Nós estudámos português num banco no jardim.

So:

estudamos → present
estudámos → simple past

In Brazil, people usually write estudamos for both present and past, and rely on context. But in Portugal, the accent is important and normally not omitted in careful writing.

Do I need a preposition after estudamos, like estudamos de português?

No preposition is needed here. In Portuguese, estudar takes its object directly:

Estudamos português. – We study Portuguese.
Ela estuda matemática. – She studies mathematics.
Eles estudam história. – They study history.

You should not say:

✘ estudamos de português
✘ estudamos sobre português (wrong as a general rule; might appear in very specific contexts like “a paper about Portuguese”, but not for “study the language”)

So your sentence Estudamos português num banco no jardim. is exactly right.

Why is it português and not portuguesa? When do I use each form?

Português and portuguesa are related but used differently:

For the language
- Always masculine singular: o português (the Portuguese language)
- After estudar, you usually drop the article: estudar português.
For nationality / adjective
- português – masculine singular
  - um homem português – a Portuguese man
- portuguesa – feminine singular
  - uma mulher portuguesa – a Portuguese woman
- portugueses – masculine plural / mixed group
- portuguesas – feminine plural

In your sentence, português is the language, so it’s always português, never portuguesa.

How would the sentence change if the group is all female? Does estudamos change?

The verb does not change. Verbs in Portuguese do not have separate masculine/feminine forms.

Nós (homens) estudamos português… – We (men) study Portuguese…
Nós (mulheres) estudamos português… – We (women) study Portuguese…

The form estudamos is the same for any group of people.

What can change is adjectives or past participles:

Nós estamos cansados. – We are tired (group with at least one man).
Nós estamos cansadas. – We are tired (all women).

But in your sentence there is no adjective referring to Nós, so nothing changes:

Nós estudamos português num banco no jardim. – valid for any gender mix.

How do you pronounce Nós estudamos português num banco no jardim in European Portuguese?

Very approximately in English-like sounds (Lisbon accent):

Nós → “nosh” (nasal vowel, not exactly o or a)
estudamos → “esh-tu-DA-mush”
português → “por-tu-GESH” (final -ês like “esh”)
num → “noong” (nasal u)
banco → “BUN-koo” (first vowel nasal: like bun but more nasal)
no → “noo” (short)
jardim → “zhar-DEENG” (soft j like French jour; final -im nasal)

Said naturally, it flows something like:

Nós estudamos português num banco no jardim.
[Nósh esh-tu-DA-mush por-tu-GESH noong BUN-koo noo zhar-DEENG.]

Nasal vowels (Nós, num, banco, jardim) and the soft j in jardim are key features of European Portuguese pronunciation here.