Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã, eu apago notificações que só me trazem distração. - By sliding my finger on the screen, I delete notifications that only bring me distraction.

Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã literally means “Upon sliding my finger on the screen” or “When sliding my finger on the screen”.
- The structure is ao + infinitive.
- It’s very common in European Portuguese to express “when/whenever/as I …”.
Quando deslizo o dedo no ecrã means “When I slide my finger on the screen” in a more direct way.

In most everyday contexts, they’re interchangeable here:

Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã, eu apago notificações…
Quando deslizo o dedo no ecrã, apago notificações…

The “ao + infinitive” form is slightly more neutral/formal and is very typical in written Portuguese, instructions, and descriptions of habits or procedures.

Why is it “ao deslizar” with an infinitive, instead of a conjugated form like “ao deslizo”?

In Portuguese, after ao in this temporal construction, you must use the infinitive:

✅ ao deslizar
❌ ao deslizo

The pattern is:

ao + infinitivo = when/while/whenever doing X

Examples:

Ao comer, vejo televisão. = When I eat, I watch TV.
Ao sair de casa, levo o guarda-chuva. = When I leave the house, I take an umbrella.

The subject is understood from the main clause (here, eu). So:

Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã, eu apago…
= When I slide my finger on the screen, I delete…

You never conjugate the verb after ao in this structure.

Could I just say “Deslizando o dedo no ecrã, eu apago notificações…” instead of “Ao deslizar…”?

Grammatically, Deslizando o dedo no ecrã, eu apago notificações… is possible, but:

In European Portuguese, using the gerúndio (the -ndo form: deslizando, falando, comendo) like this is much less common than in Brazilian Portuguese.
Portuguese from Portugal prefers:
- ao + infinitivo: Ao deslizar o dedo…
- or quando + verbo conjugado: Quando deslizo o dedo…

So in Portugal:

Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã… = sounds very natural.
Deslizando o dedo no ecrã… = grammatically okay, but can sound more literary or slightly Brazilian-influenced in everyday speech.

Do I really need the “eu” in “eu apago notificações”, or can I just say “apago notificações”?

You don’t need eu here. Both are correct:

✅ Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã, apago notificações…
✅ Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã, eu apago notificações…

In Portuguese:

Subject pronouns (eu, tu, ele, nós, vocês, eles) are often dropped because the verb ending usually makes the subject clear.
You include eu when you want to:
- add a bit of emphasis: I (as opposed to someone else) delete them.
- avoid ambiguity (not a problem here).

So the more typical, neutral version in writing could easily omit eu:

Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã, apago notificações…

Why is it “no ecrã” and not “no ecrã do telemóvel”?

“No ecrã” means “on the screen”, and the rest (“of the phone”) is simply understood from context.

You could say:

Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã do telemóvel… = On the phone screen…
Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã… = On the screen…

In real usage, if it’s obvious we’re talking about a phone or some device, speakers often drop the extra detail. It’s like English speakers often say:

“I tapped on the screen” (without saying “of my phone”).

What’s the difference between “no ecrã” and something like “pelo ecrã” after “deslizar o dedo”?

Both can be used, but with a small nuance:

deslizar o dedo no ecrã
– literally “slide (your) finger on the screen”
– focuses on the location where the action happens.
deslizar o dedo pelo ecrã (short for por + o = pelo)
– literally “slide (your) finger through/across the screen”
– gives more of a sense of movement across the surface.

In practice:

no ecrã is very common and perfectly natural.
pelo ecrã emphasizes the idea of moving your finger along or across the screen.

Both would make sense with this sentence; no ecrã is just a bit more neutral and common.

Why is it “ecrã” and not “tela”? I thought “tela” meant “screen”.

The difference is regional:

In Portugal:
- ecrã is the standard everyday word for screen (computer, phone, TV).
In Brazil:
- tela is the most common word for screen.

So:

European Portuguese: ecrã do telemóvel = the phone screen
Brazilian Portuguese: tela do celular = the phone screen

If you’re learning Portuguese from Portugal, ecrã is the natural choice.

Why is it “notificações que só me trazem distração” and not “notificações que só me traz distração”?

It’s about agreement between the verb and its subject.

notificações = plural (they)
The verb must also be plural: trazem.

So:

✅ notificações que só me trazem distração
= notifications that only bring me distraction
❌ notificações que só me traz distração
(here traz is singular, which doesn’t agree with plural notificações)

If the subject were singular, you’d use traz:

Uma notificação que só me traz distração.
= A notification that only brings me distraction.

Why is the pronoun in “só me trazem distração” placed before the verb? Could it also be “só trazem-me distração”?

In European Portuguese, the position of unstressed pronouns (me, te, se, o, a, lhe, nos, vos, lhes, etc.) follows certain rules.

In this sentence, you have “que só me trazem distração”:

The verb (trazem) is not at the beginning of the sentence or clause.
There is no word that forces enclisis (pronoun after the verb), like já, ainda, também, etc.

So the default in European Portuguese is:

✅ que só me trazem distração
(pronoun before the verb = mesoclisis/proclisis type, here specifically proclisis)

“trazem-me” (pronoun after the verb) is possible in European Portuguese, but often appears when the verb starts the clause, or in more formal/literary styles, or under certain triggers.

Here, “que só me trazem distração” is by far the most natural for Portugal.
In Brazilian Portuguese, pronouns before the verb are also the most common in speech, so me trazem fits well for PT and BR.

What exactly does “só” do in “só me trazem distração”, and could I say it in another way?

“só” here = “only/just”.

notificações que só me trazem distração
= notifications that only bring me distraction / are nothing but a distraction to me.

Other options:

…que me trazem só distração.
– similar meaning, stressing that what they bring is only distraction.
…que apenas me trazem distração.
– apenas is a bit more formal/literary but very common in writing.
…que só me distraem.
– “that only distract me” (using the verb distrair instead of the noun distração).

The most neutral everyday way in Portugal is exactly what you have:

…que só me trazem distração.

Why is it “distração” and not “distração” with a double c (“distracção”) that I’ve seen somewhere?

You’ve noticed the effect of the orthographic reform.

Before the 1990 spelling agreement (and in older texts), in Portugal you could find:
- distracção
After the reform, the modern official spelling (used in Portugal and Brazil) is:
- distração

So distração (with ç and no extra c) is the correct contemporary spelling.
You may still see distracção in older books or in texts by people who prefer the old orthography.

Could I say “apago as notificações” instead of “apago notificações”? What’s the difference?

Both are possible; the article “as” slightly changes the nuance:

apago notificações
– “I delete notifications” = a more generic statement about what you do in that situation, without specifying which ones.
apago as notificações
– “I delete the notifications” = sounds a bit more specific, as if you’re referring to a particular set/group of notifications (for example, ones on your lock screen right now).

In the sentence:

Ao deslizar o dedo no ecrã, eu apago notificações que só me trazem distração.

Omitting the article keeps it general: whenever you slide your finger, you delete (those kinds of) notifications that are just a distraction.
Adding as is still correct, just a touch more definite:

…eu apago as notificações que só me trazem distração.
= I delete the notifications that (I consider) only bring me distraction.