Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): O toque do despertador é irritante.

“touch” – physical contact or a small amount:
- Dá-me um toque no ombro. – Give me a tap on the shoulder.
- Um toque de sal. – A touch of salt.
“ring / tone / ringtone / beep / knock” – a specific sound that signals something:
- O toque do telefone. – The phone’s ring.
- Muda o toque do telemóvel. – Change the mobile ringtone.
- Ouvi três toques na porta. – I heard three knocks on the door.

In O toque do despertador é irritante, toque means “ring / sound pattern / ringtone”, not physical touch. It’s the characteristic sound the alarm clock makes.

Why is it O toque and not just Toque? Do I always need the article?

Portuguese uses definite articles (o, a, os, as) much more than English, especially with singular countable nouns.

O toque do despertador é irritante.
Literally: The ring of the alarm clock is irritating.

In English you can often drop the and say “Alarm clock ringing is annoying,” but in Portuguese, dropping the article here would sound wrong or at least very marked.

You normally use the definite article when:

You’re talking about a specific thing:
- O carro é vermelho. – The car is red.
You’re making a general statement about a type of thing:
- O café é caro em Lisboa. – Coffee is expensive in Lisbon (in general).

You usually omit the article in:

Headlines, labels, or very short notes:
- Toque irritante do despertador (e.g., as a title on a blog post).
Some set expressions (e.g. em casa, a pé).

In a normal full sentence like this, O toque is the natural form.

What is do in do despertador? Is it like “of the”?

Yes. Do is the contraction of de + o:

de + o = do
de + a = da
de + os = dos
de + as = das

So do despertador literally means “of the alarm clock”.

It’s used for possession or a close relationship between nouns:

O toque do despertador – the ring of the alarm clock
A porta da casa – the door of the house
As chaves do carro – the car keys

You normally must make this contraction in speech and writing when de comes before a definite article (o, a, os, as).

Why despertador and not alarme? How do I say “alarm” on my phone?

In European Portuguese:

despertador = alarm clock / waking-up alarm
- Traditionally the physical device.
- By extension, also the alarm function on a phone.
alarme = alarm in a broader sense, especially:
- security alarms: alarme do carro, alarme da casa
- fire alarms, smoke alarms, etc.
- metaphorical “alarm / concern”: isso causou alarme na população.

For a wake-up alarm:

Neutral and very common:
- O despertador do telemóvel – the phone’s alarm clock
- Pus o despertador para as sete. – I set the alarm for seven.

Many people also casually say alarme for a wake-up alarm, especially younger speakers:

Pus o alarme para as sete. – I set the alarm (on my phone) for seven.

So in this sentence, do despertador clearly points to something that wakes you up, so O toque do despertador = “The alarm clock’s ring.”

Could I just say O despertador é irritante? What’s the difference?

You can, but there’s a nuance:

O despertador é irritante.
– The alarm clock is irritating.
This describes the device (or its whole behaviour) as irritating: maybe its sound, its lights, the way it goes off, etc.
O toque do despertador é irritante.
– The ring / sound of the alarm clock is irritating.
This is more precise: you’re specifically complaining about the sound it makes.

Both are correct; the original just focuses on the sound rather than the object.

Why is it é irritante and not está irritante? How do ser and estar work here?

Portuguese has two verbs for “to be”: ser and estar.

In very simplified terms:

ser = permanent, characteristic, defining quality
estar = temporary state, situation at the moment

In O toque do despertador é irritante:

é irritante (with ser) means:
The alarm clock’s ring is generally / by nature irritating. That’s how it is.

If you said:

O toque do despertador está irritante.

it would sound unusual, but in context it could mean something like:

“The ring is irritating right now / more than usual today.”

Normally, describing the inherent quality of a sound (loud, soft, pleasant, irritating) uses ser:

A música é alta. – The music is loud (in general / by nature).
O barulho é insuportável. – The noise is unbearable.

So é irritante is the expected choice.

Does irritante change for masculine/feminine or singular/plural?

Adjectives ending in -e (like irritante) have:

one form for masculine and feminine, and
another form for plural.

So:

Masculine singular: irritante
- O toque é irritante.
Feminine singular: irritante
- A música é irritante.
Masculine plural: irritantes
- Os toques são irritantes.
Feminine plural: irritantes
- As músicas são irritantes.

Only the number (singular/plural) changes here, not the gender form.

Is irritante always strongly negative, like “really annoying,” or can it be mild?

Irritante is negative, but its strength depends on context and modifiers:

Neutral negative, like English “annoying / irritating”:
- O toque é irritante. – The ring is annoying.

To make it stronger:

O toque é muito irritante. – very irritating
O toque é extremamente irritante. – extremely irritating
O toque é mesmo irritante. – really / truly irritating

To make it softer:

O toque é um bocado irritante. – a bit irritating
O toque é um pouco irritante. – a little irritating
O toque é um tanto irritante. – somewhat irritating (more formal/literary)

So by itself it’s negative, but not necessarily dramatic; the adverbs give you the nuance.

How is the whole sentence pronounced in European Portuguese?

Very roughly (European Portuguese), your mouth would do something like:

O – like English “oo” (short): [u]
toque – TÓ-keh (first syllable stressed, “o” like in “off”): [ˈtɔk(ɨ)]
do – like “doo”: [du]
despertador – duhsh-pər-tah-DOR (stress on the last syllable):
- des ≈ dɨsh (reduced vowel, “e” becomes a short, almost “uh” sound)
- per ≈ pɨɾ (again a reduced vowel)
- ta ≈ tɐ
- dor ≈ DOR, with a guttural r at the end in most EP accents
é – like open “eh”: [ɛ]
irritante – ee-hee-TUN-t(ih) (stress on tan):
- initial i like “ee”
- rr is a throaty r (like French or German)
- tan has a nasal vowel (like French “temps”)
- final -te is very reduced, often almost [t] or [tɨ]

Altogether (approximate IPA, European Portuguese):
[u ˈtɔk(ɨ) du dɨʃpɨɾtɐˈdoɾ ɛ iʁiˈtɐ̃t(ɨ)]

Don’t worry about perfect sounds at first; if you say something like
“oo TÓ-keh doo desh-per-ta-DOR eh ee-ree-TAN-teh”, most Portuguese speakers will understand you.

Why is it toque do despertador instead of something like despertador toque, like in English “alarm clock ring”?

Portuguese doesn’t normally put two nouns directly together the way English does. Instead, it uses:

Noun + de + Noun

So instead of:

✗ despertador toque

you say:

o toque do despertador – the ring of the alarm clock
a porta da casa – the door of the house
o nome do filme – the name of the film

This N + de + N structure is the usual way to show possession, origin, or a close relationship between two nouns.

Can toque be used for other sounds, not just the alarm clock?

Yes. Toque is very common for many kinds of short, distinct sounds:

toque de telemóvel – phone ringtone
toque de entrada / saída – school bell for start/end of class
toque à campainha – ring of the doorbell
dois toques na porta – two knocks on the door
toque de corneta – bugle call

So you can reuse toque whenever you mean a specific signal sound, not just for alarm clocks.

How can I make the sentence stronger or softer in Portuguese, like “really annoying” or “a bit annoying”?

You just add an adverb before irritante:

Stronger:
- O toque do despertador é muito irritante. – very irritating
- O toque do despertador é mesmo irritante. – really irritating
- O toque do despertador é extremamente irritante. – extremely irritating
Softer:
- O toque do despertador é um bocado irritante. – a bit irritating
- O toque do despertador é um pouco irritante. – a little irritating
- O toque do despertador é um tanto irritante. – somewhat irritating (more formal)

The core structure stays the same:
O toque do despertador é + [adverb] + irritante.