Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana.

We run in the park on weekends.

Breakdown of Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana.

• nós: we
• em: in
• o fim de semana: the weekend
• o parque: the park
• ao: on
• correr: to go (turn out)

Questions & Answers about Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana.

Is the word nós necessary here, or could I just say Corremos no parque ao fim de semana?

Portuguese normally drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana. – perfectly correct, slightly more explicit or emphatic.
• Corremos no parque ao fim de semana. – also perfectly correct, and actually more typical in natural speech/writing.

You’d usually keep nós if:

• you want to emphasize “we” (as opposed to someone else)
• you are contrasting subjects: Nós corremos, eles andam. (“We run, they walk.”)
• you’re in a context where clarity really matters (e.g. teaching, very first mention in a story)

Otherwise, dropping nós is very common and natural in European Portuguese.

What tense is corremos? Does it mean present or past?

Corremos can be either:

• Present indicative, 1st person plural – “we run” / “we are running”
• Preterite (simple past), 1st person plural – “we ran”

The form is identical in these two tenses for -er verbs in the nós form.

In your sentence:

• Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana.
  The presence of ao fim de semana (a habitual time expression) makes it present habitual:
  ➜ We run in the park on weekends.

If we added a clear past time reference, it would be understood as past:

• Nós corremos no parque no sábado passado.
  ➜ We ran in the park last Saturday.

So the context and time expressions decide whether it’s present or past.

Why is it corremos and not something like corre or correm?

Because the subject is nós (“we”), so the verb must agree with 1st person plural:

Conjugation of correr (to run), present tense:

• (eu) corro – I run
• (tu) corres – you run (singular, informal)
• (ele / ela / você) corre – he / she / you (formal) run(s)
• (nós) corremos – we run
• (vocês / eles / elas) correm – you (plural) / they run

So nós → corremos is the correct match.

What exactly is no in no parque? Why not just em o parque?

No is a contraction:

• em + o = no
• literally: “in the / at the” (masculine singular)

So:

• no parque = in the park / at the park

You don’t normally say em o parque; native speakers always contract:

• em + a = na (feminine singular) → na escola (in the school)
• em + os = nos (masc. plural) → nos parques (in the parks)
• em + as = nas (fem. plural) → nas cidades (in the cities)

Using the contracted form (no, na, nos, nas) is mandatory in standard Portuguese.

Could I say num parque instead of no parque? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

• no parque = in *the park* (a specific, known park)
• num parque = in *a park* (some park, not specified)

Num is:

• em + um = num (in a / at a, masculine singular)

So:

• Corremos no parque ao fim de semana.
  ➜ We run in the park (probably the one we both know, e.g. the local park).

• Corremos num parque ao fim de semana.
  ➜ We run in a park (some park, you’re not specifying which one).

What does ao in ao fim de semana mean, and why not no fim de semana?

Ao is another contraction:

• a + o = ao
• literally: “to the / at the” (masculine singular)

Ao fim de semana in European Portuguese is a very common way of saying:

• “at the weekend / on weekends” in a general, habitual sense.

No fim de semana tends to be used more for a particular weekend (similar to “on the weekend” referring to a specific one), especially if you add something like passado (last) or que vem (next):

• No fim de semana passado, corremos no parque.
  ➜ Last weekend, we ran in the park.

That said, in everyday speech there’s overlap, and you will also hear:

• ao fim de semana – at weekends (generally)
• aos fins de semana – on weekends (explicit plural, also very common)
• nos fins de semana – on the weekends

All of these can sound natural; ao fim de semana and aos fins de semana are particularly common in Portugal.

Why is it fim de semana in the singular if it means “on weekends” (plural idea)?

In Portuguese, time expressions in the singular can often express a regular, repeated action. So:

• ao fim de semana
  literally: “at the weekend”
  usage: “on weekends / at weekends” (habitually, every weekend)

This is similar to English saying:

• “I go to bed early on school night” (possible in some dialects, even though strictly it’s plural in meaning)
  or
• “I take the bus on a weekday” (but you mean generally)

You can also make it explicitly plural:

• aos fins de semana – literally “on the ends of week(s)” → “on weekends”

But ao fim de semana is idiomatic and widely used in European Portuguese to mean “on weekends” in general.

Could I put ao fim de semana at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes, that’s very natural and often done for emphasis or flow:

• Ao fim de semana, nós corremos no parque.
• Ao fim de semana, corremos no parque.

Same meaning; you’re just fronting the time expression, like English:

• “On weekends, we run in the park.”

The word order is flexible for adverbials like time, place, and manner in Portuguese.

Would Brazilians say this sentence in the same way?

They would understand it perfectly, but they might phrase it differently in everyday speech.

European Portuguese (your version):

• Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana.

Very natural Brazilian options:

• A gente corre no parque no fim de semana.
  (a gente = “we”, but verb stays in 3rd singular)
• Nós corremos no parque nos fins de semana.
  (more formal/standard, but still used)

Brazilian Portuguese also uses fim de semana (less often final de semana in some regions).
The main differences:

• Stronger use of a gente instead of nós in Brazil.
• Preference for no(s) fim(ns) de semana rather than ao fim de semana, though ao fim de semana is still understood.

Is there any difference in meaning between Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana and Estamos a correr no parque ao fim de semana?

Yes.

• Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana.
  Present simple, habitual:
  ➜ We (normally) run in the park on weekends.

• Nós estamos a correr no parque ao fim de semana.
  Present progressive/continuous, using the European estar a + infinitive:
  Literally: “We are running in the park on weekends.”
  This sounds like you’re describing something temporarily ongoing, e.g. a phase:
  ➜ These days we’re running in the park on weekends (but maybe not always / forever).

In practice, to talk about regular habits, European Portuguese strongly prefers the simple present (corremos), not the continuous form.

How would I change the sentence to say “We ran in the park last weekend”?

You keep the same verb form corremos (since present and preterite 1st plural are identical) and change the time expression:

• Nós corremos no parque no fim de semana passado.
  ➜ We ran in the park last weekend.

Breakdown:

• no fim de semana – on the weekend
• passado – last / past

You can drop nós if context is clear:

• Corremos no parque no fim de semana passado.

How do you pronounce Nós corremos no parque ao fim de semana in European Portuguese?

Approximate IPA (European Portuguese):

• Nós – /nɔʃ/ (the s sounds like English “sh”)
• corremos – /kuˈʁemuʃ/
• no – /nu/
• parque – /ˈpaɾk(ɨ)/ (final e is very weak, often almost silent: [ɨ])
• ao – /aw/ (similar to English “ow” in now)
• fim – /fĩ/ (nasal im, like French vin)
• de – /d(ɨ)/ (very reduced, almost just a soft d)
• semana – /sɨˈmɐnɐ/

Linked together, roughly:

• /nɔʃ kuˈʁemuʃ nu ˈpaɾk(ɨ) aw fĩ d(ɨ) sɨˈmɐnɐ/

Main tips for an English speaker:

• Final s in nós, corremos → “sh” sound /ʃ/.
• Don’t fully pronounce the final e in parque, de, semana; keep it short and reduced.
• fim has a nasal vowel; don’t add a clear m at the end.