Eu crio um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.

I create a daily reminder to practise Portuguese for fifteen minutes.

Breakdown of Eu crio um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.

• eu: I
• um: a
• para: to
• criar: to create
• o minuto: the minute
• diário: daily
• o português: the Portuguese
• praticar: to practise
• o lembrete: the reminder
• durante: for
• quinze: fifteen

Questions & Answers about Eu crio um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.

In Portuguese, do I really need to say Eu, or can I just say Crio um lembrete diário…?

In Portuguese you don’t need to say the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• Eu crio = I create
• The ending -o already tells us it’s 1st person singular (I).

So both are correct:

• Eu crio um lembrete diário…
• Crio um lembrete diário…

Including Eu can:

• add emphasis (e.g. I create a reminder, as opposed to someone else),
• sound slightly more formal or explicit.

In neutral everyday speech, dropping “Eu” is very common:

• Crio um lembrete diário para praticar português…

Why is it crio (present tense) and not something like estou a criar?

Crio is the simple present in Portuguese, and it’s used more broadly than English I create.

Portuguese simple present can express:

• habits / routines:
  
  • Crio um lembrete diário… = I set a daily reminder (as a habit / general fact).
• current actions in some contexts, especially with an adverb:
  
  • Agora crio um lembrete = I’m creating a reminder now.

If you say:

• Estou a criar um lembrete diário…
  that focuses more on the action right now (I am in the process of creating…).

For a general routine or description of what you do, crio is the most natural choice.

Is criar the most natural verb here, or would Portuguese people say something else for “set a reminder”?

Criar is correct and perfectly understandable, but in European Portuguese you’ll also often hear:

• Definir um lembrete diário – set a daily reminder (very common in phone/computer interfaces)
• Pôr um lembrete diário – put/set a daily reminder (more informal / everyday speech)
• Marcar um lembrete diário – schedule/mark a reminder

All of these are natural in Portugal:

• Crio um lembrete diário… – neutral, clear.
• Defino um lembrete diário… – sounds a bit more “technical” or like something you do in settings/apps.
• Ponho um lembrete diário… – very natural spoken EP.

Your sentence with crio is absolutely fine; just be aware of the alternatives you’ll hear.

Why is it um lembrete diário and not um diário lembrete?

In Portuguese, adjectives usually come after the noun:

• um lembrete diário = literally a reminder daily
  (correct: noun lembrete
  • adjective diário)
• um diário lembrete – sounds wrong/unnatural.

General rule:

• noun + adjective
  
  • um carro novo – a new car
  • uma casa grande – a big house
  • um lembrete diário – a daily reminder

Some adjectives can come before the noun for stylistic or meaning differences, but diário here is standardly placed after the noun.

What exactly does diário mean here? Is it different from saying todos os dias?

Diário means daily and functions as an adjective.

• um lembrete diário – a daily reminder (something that is configured as “daily”)
• todos os dias – every day, usually a time expression, not an adjective.

You could say:

• Crio um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.
• Crio um lembrete para praticar português durante quinze minutos todos os dias.

Both are correct, with a small nuance:

• diário describes the type of reminder.
• todos os dias describes when you do the action.

In practice, they often end up meaning essentially the same thing.

Why is it para praticar and not a praticar or por praticar?

Here, para + infinitive expresses purpose (in order to).

• para praticar português = in order to practise Portuguese / to practise Portuguese

Common patterns:

• para + infinitivo – purpose / goal
  
  • Estudo português para trabalhar em Portugal.
    I study Portuguese to work in Portugal.

A praticar would only work in specific constructions (e.g. começar a praticar, continuar a praticar), but not after para.

Por praticar has a different meaning:

• por praticar can mean because of practising or for having practised, which is not what you want here.

So for “a reminder to practise Portuguese”, para praticar português is the natural and correct structure.

Why is it praticar português and not praticar o português?

With languages, Portuguese allows both patterns, but usage depends on the verb and context.

You will see:

• falar português, aprender português, estudar português
• sometimes falar o português, aprender o português, etc.

With praticar, in this kind of general sentence, no article is more natural:

• praticar português – practise Portuguese (in general)

Using the article:

• praticar o português is possible, but it can sound like you’re talking about “the Portuguese language” as a specific subject, or in contrast to another language.

In everyday European Portuguese, praticar português (without o) is what you’ll most commonly hear in a sentence like this.

Why is português written with a lowercase p? In English we write “Portuguese” with a capital letter.

In Portuguese:

• names of languages are written with a lowercase initial letter.
• nationalities used as adjectives or common nouns are also lowercase.

So:

• português (language) – Portuguese
• um rapaz português – a Portuguese boy
• os portugueses – the Portuguese (people)

You only capitalize Português when it is part of a proper name or title, e.g.:

• Departamento de Português
• Faculdade de Letras – Português

So in your sentence, português is correctly in lowercase.

What does durante add in durante quinze minutos? Could I just say por quinze minutos or only quinze minutos?

Durante introduces a time span: for / during fifteen minutes.

• durante quinze minutos – for fifteen minutes (duration of the activity)

You have some options:

1. With “durante” (very clear, neutral):

   • …para praticar português durante quinze minutos.

2. Without any preposition (also common in speech):

   • …para praticar português quinze minutos.
     (context usually makes it clear it’s a duration)

3. With “por”:

   • …para praticar português por quinze minutos.
     In European Portuguese, por for duration is understood but is less common and can sometimes sound more Brazilian or more formal/legal depending on context.

In European Portuguese, for this kind of everyday sentence, durante quinze minutos is very natural and explicit; dropping the preposition also happens, especially in fast speech.

Do I have to say minutos, or is durante quinze enough?

If context is absolutely clear (for example, after asking “Quinze o quê?”), people may omit the unit, but in a full, standalone sentence, you should include it:

• durante quinze minutos – correct and clear.
• durante quinze – sounds incomplete unless it’s a very informal context where everyone already knows you’re talking about minutes.

So in your sentence, durante quinze minutos is the natural, complete form.

Is the word order fixed? Could I move durante quinze minutos or para praticar português to another place?

Portuguese word order is quite flexible, especially with time expressions and purpose phrases. Your original:

• Eu crio um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.

Other correct possibilities:

• Eu crio um lembrete diário durante quinze minutos para praticar português.
  (less natural here; sounds like the reminder itself lasts fifteen minutes)

• Eu crio, todos os dias, um lembrete para praticar português durante quinze minutos.
• Todos os dias, crio um lembrete para praticar português durante quinze minutos.
• Crio um lembrete diário para, durante quinze minutos, praticar português.
  (stylistic, a bit more formal)

The most natural is to keep:

• [verb + object] + para praticar português + durante quinze minutos

because that clearly links the duration to the practice, not to the reminder.

How else could a European Portuguese speaker naturally say this whole sentence?

Some natural European Portuguese variations with the same idea:

• Defino um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.
• Ponho um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.
• Programo um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.
• Crio um lembrete diário para praticar português quinze minutos por dia.
• Todos os dias, pratico português durante quinze minutos; para isso, crio um lembrete diário.

Your original:

• Eu crio um lembrete diário para praticar português durante quinze minutos.

is fully correct and natural; these are just stylistic alternatives you’re likely to hear in Portugal.