Eu preocupo-me com o resultado do exame de amanhã.

Breakdown of Eu preocupo-me com o resultado do exame de amanhã.

eu
I
de
of
o exame
the exam
amanhã
tomorrow
o resultado
the result
preocupar-se com
to be concerned about

Questions & Answers about Eu preocupo-me com o resultado do exame de amanhã.

What does the -me in preocupo-me do?

The -me is a reflexive pronoun meaning “myself”.

  • preocupar = to worry / to concern
  • preocupar-se = to worry oneself, i.e. to be worried / to worry about (something)
  • preocupo-me = I worry myselfI am worried / I worry

So Eu preocupo-me literally means “I worry myself”, which is how Portuguese forms the idea “I’m worried / I worry (about…)” in this structure.

Why is me attached to the end of the verb with a hyphen (preocupo-me) instead of put before it?

This is a typical feature of European Portuguese: the object pronouns often attach to the end of the verb (with a hyphen). This is called enclisis.

  • Eu preocupo-me com… – normal in European Portuguese
  • Eu me preocupo com… – normal in Brazilian Portuguese, but sounds Brazilian in Portugal in this context

In European Portuguese, in an affirmative main clause with nothing “pulling” the pronoun forward, the default is:

verb + pronounpreocupo-me

However, when certain words come before the verb (like não, também, que, etc.), the pronoun usually goes before the verb (proclisis):

  • Não me preocupo com o resultado.I’m not worried about the result.
  • Também me preocupo com isso.I also worry about that.
  • Quando me preocupo, não consigo dormir.When I worry, I can’t sleep.

So:

  • European Portuguese (neutral context): preocupo-me
  • Brazilian Portuguese (neutral context): me preocupo
Is the subject pronoun Eu necessary here? Could I just say Preocupo-me com o resultado do exame de amanhã?

Yes, you can absolutely drop Eu:

  • Preocupo-me com o resultado do exame de amanhã.

In Portuguese, subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is:

  • preocupo = clearly “I” (1st person singular)

Including Eu:

  • Eu preocupo-me…

can give a slight emphasis on I, for example in contrast to someone else:

  • Eu preocupo-me com isso, mas ele não.
    I worry about that, but he doesn’t.

So both are correct; without Eu is more neutral and common in many contexts.

Why is the verb reflexive here: preocupar-se instead of just preocupar?

Portuguese makes a clear distinction:

  • preocupar alguém = to worry someone / to cause someone worry
    • O exame preocupa-me.The exam worries me.
  • preocupar-se com algo = to be worried about something / to worry about something
    • Eu preocupo-me com o exame.I’m worried about the exam.

So:

  • non‑reflexive:
    • O resultado preocupa os alunos.
      The result worries the students. (The result is the thing that causes worry.)
  • reflexive:
    • Os alunos preocupam-se com o resultado.
      The students are worried about the result. (They worry themselves about it.)

Your sentence is talking about your internal state, so it uses the reflexive form preocupar-se com.

Why is it com o resultado and not sobre o resultado or por o resultado?

With preocupar-se, the normal preposition is com:

  • preocupar-se com algo = to worry about something

So:

  • Preocupo-me com o resultado.I’m worried about the result.

Other prepositions would be odd or have different meanings:

  • preocupar-se sobre o resultado – not natural; sobre tends to be “about/concerning” in other contexts (e.g. falar sobre = talk about).
  • preocupar-se por o resultado – ungrammatical; you almost never use por here.

So just memorise the pattern:

preocupar-se + com: worry about

What exactly is do in do exame? Why not de o exame?

do is simply a contraction of de + o:

  • de = of / from
  • o = the (masculine singular)
  • de + o → do

So:

  • do exame = de o exame = of the exam

Portuguese always contracts these:

  • de + a → da (feminine singular) – da prova
  • de + os → dos (masculine plural) – dos exames
  • de + as → das (feminine plural) – das provas

You must use the contraction; de o exame written out is incorrect in standard Portuguese.

What does de amanhã mean here? Why not just amanhã at the end?

In o resultado do exame de amanhã:

  • de amanhã is attached to exame“tomorrow’s exam”
    Literally: the result of the exam of tomorrowthe result of tomorrow’s exam

If you just said:

  • o resultado do exame amanhã

that would normally be understood as:

  • the result of the exam tomorrow (the result will come tomorrow),
    not tomorrow’s exam.

So:

  • o exame de amanhã = tomorrow’s exam
  • amanhã o exame or o exame é amanhã = the exam is tomorrow (simple time adverbial)

Also note:

  • amanhã = tomorrow
  • a manhã = the morning
  • de manhã = in the morning
Could I say Eu estou preocupado com o resultado do exame de amanhã instead? Is there any difference?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct, and very common:

  • Eu estou preocupado com o resultado do exame de amanhã.
    I am worried about the result of tomorrow’s exam.

Nuance:

  • Eu preocupo-me com…
    – can describe a general tendency (I worry about it / it’s something that concerns me),
    – but in context it can also describe your current state.
  • Estou preocupado com…
    – focuses more clearly on your current emotional state: I’m (feeling) worried right now.

In practice, to talk about how you feel now, many people in Portugal would use Estou preocupado com… slightly more naturally than Preocupo-me com…, though both are correct here.

How would this sentence typically look in Brazilian Portuguese?

In Brazilian Portuguese, the pronoun normally comes before the verb:

  • Eu me preocupo com o resultado da prova de amanhã.

Changes you might see:

  1. Pronoun position:

    • EP (Portugal): Eu preocupo-me…
    • BP (Brazil): Eu me preocupo…
  2. “exam” word:

    • Portugal: o exame is very common.
    • Brazil: a prova is very common in the school/university context.
      da prova (de + a = da).
  3. Same preposition and structure:

    • preocupar-se com is still used:
      Eu me preocupo com o resultado…

Meaning is the same; the main obvious difference to the ear is me preocupo (Brazil) vs preocupo-me (Portugal).

How do I make this sentence negative?

In Portuguese, não comes before the verb, and in European Portuguese that pulls the pronoun in front of the verb too:

  • Eu não me preocupo com o resultado do exame de amanhã.
    I’m not worried about the result of tomorrow’s exam.

Structure:

  • Eu (subject)
  • não (negation)
  • me (pronoun)
  • preocupo (verb)
  • com o resultado do exame de amanhã (rest of the sentence)
Can I say Eu preocupo com o resultado… without me?

No, not with this meaning.

  • preocupar-se com algo = to be worried about something
    → needs the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nos, se).

Without the pronoun, preocupar normally means to worry someone / to cause worry:

  • O resultado preocupa-me.The result worries me.
  • Esta situação preocupa os pais.This situation worries the parents.

So:

  • Eu preocupo-me com o resultado.I’m worried about the result.
  • Eu preocupo com o resultado. ❌ incorrect for that meaning.
How is preocupar-se conjugated with the reflexive pronoun in the present tense?

Here’s preocupar-se (present indicative) in European Portuguese, showing the typical enclisis (pronoun after the verb) in neutral affirmative sentences:

  • (eu) preocupo-me – I worry / I’m worried
  • (tu) preocupas-te – you worry (informal singular)
  • (ele / ela / você) preocupa-se – he/she/you (formal) worry
  • (nós) preocupamo-nos – we worry
  • (eles / elas / vocês) preocupam-se – they / you (plural) worry

Examples:

  • Preocupo-me com o resultado. – I’m worried about the result.
  • Preocupas-te demasiado com isso. – You worry too much about that.
  • Os alunos preocupam-se com os exames. – The students are worried about the exams.
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