Breakdown of Durante a tarde, eu estudo português com a Ana.
Questions & Answers about Durante a tarde, eu estudo português com a Ana.
In Portuguese, tarde is a regular noun (and it is feminine), so it normally needs a definite article: a tarde.
With durante + part of the day, you keep the article:
- durante a manhã
- durante a tarde
- durante a noite
Without the article (durante tarde) is ungrammatical or sounds very wrong. The article a is required here.
All of these can relate to the afternoon, but the nuance changes:
Durante a tarde – literally during the afternoon, focusing on the duration across the whole (or much of the) afternoon. It can refer to a specific afternoon or be a more general habit, depending on context.
À tarde – more like in the afternoon / in the afternoons. Very common to talk about habitual actions:
- À tarde, eu estudo português. → I (usually) study in the afternoon.
De tarde – also in the afternoon, common in Brazil and also used in Portugal (though à tarde is often more typical in European Portuguese).
Na tarde – usually needs to be followed by something that specifies which afternoon:
- Na tarde de sábado, estudo português. → On Saturday afternoon I study Portuguese. Saying just Na tarde, eu estudo português is odd in standard usage.
So Durante a tarde slightly highlights the time span, while À tarde / De tarde highlight the period of the day more generally, especially for routines.
Because the preposition in the sentence is durante, not a.
- Durante a tarde = preposition durante
- article a (no contraction possible).
- À tarde = preposition a
- article a → they contract to à.
The contraction à only appears when a (preposition) + a (article) come together. With durante, you just use the plain article: durante a tarde.
Tarde is feminine in Portuguese.
That’s why you see:
- a tarde (the afternoon)
- durante a tarde
- à tarde
- na tarde de sábado
The feminine gender forces the article and any related words (if there were adjectives) to be feminine as well: a tarde longa, uma tarde calma.
You can absolutely drop eu:
- Durante a tarde, estudo português com a Ana.
Portuguese is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending -o in estudo already shows that the subject is eu.
Using eu is:
- optional in neutral sentences,
- more common for emphasis or when you need to distinguish between different possible subjects:
- Eu estudo português, mas ela estuda espanhol.
Estudo is the 1st person singular form of estudar in the present tense.
Present of estudar:
- eu estudo
- tu estudas
- ele / ela / você estuda
- nós estudamos
- eles / elas / vocês estudam
Because the subject is eu (I), the correct form is estudo.
Both are possible in European Portuguese, but they express slightly different ideas:
Eu estudo português – simple present, usually for habits / routines or general facts:
- I (regularly / habitually) study Portuguese.
Eu estou a estudar português – present progressive, for an action that is in progress around now:
- I am (currently) studying Portuguese (e.g. this year / these days / at this moment).
In your sentence, with Durante a tarde, we are talking about a regular routine, so the simple present eu estudo fits very well.
Yes. Word order is fairly flexible for adverbial time expressions:
- Durante a tarde, eu estudo português com a Ana.
- Eu estudo português com a Ana durante a tarde.
Both are correct.
Placing Durante a tarde at the beginning often gives it a bit more emphasis, like setting the scene: As for the afternoon, that’s when I study…
In Portuguese, names of languages and nationalities (as adjectives) are not capitalised, unlike in English.
So you write:
- português, inglês, francês, alemão, etc.
But country names are capitalised:
- Portugal, Inglaterra, França, Alemanha.
So eu estudo português is the normal, correct spelling.
Both are used in European Portuguese:
- Eu estudo português.
- Eu estudo o português.
Meaning is essentially the same. Some points:
- With verbs like falar, aprender, estudar, the article before languages is optional.
- In European Portuguese, you will often hear and read both versions; with and without article are both standard.
- Some speakers feel o português sounds a bit more specific or formal / school‑like (the Portuguese language as a subject), while português alone can feel slightly more neutral.
In your sentence, eu estudo português is perfectly natural.
In European Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article with people’s first names:
- a Ana, o João, a Maria, o Pedro
So with a preposition:
- com a Ana
- para o João
- da Maria (de + a Maria)
This is normal, everyday European Portuguese.
If you say com Ana, it can sound:
- more formal / stylised in European Portuguese, or
- more like Brazilian Portuguese (where articles before first names are generally not used in standard speech: com Ana, com João).
Yes. In European Portuguese, you typically omit the article:
When directly addressing someone (vocative):
- Ana, vem cá. → Ana, come here.
- João, podes ajudar?
In some very formal or headline styles, or in certain fixed expressions:
- Presidente Ana Silva discursou hoje…
- Titles of books, news headlines, etc.
With some surnames alone, especially for famous people:
- Ronaldo marcou um golo.
- Camões é um grande escritor.
But in everyday speech, referring to a person (not calling them), using the article is the norm in European Portuguese:
- Vou falar com a Ana.
- Encontrei o João.
It is recommended, but not strictly obligatory in all styles.
- Durante a tarde, eu estudo português com a Ana. → very natural and standard.
- Durante a tarde eu estudo português com a Ana. → also possible; some writers omit the comma after a short time expression.
General idea: when you put an adverbial expression (like a time phrase) at the start, Portuguese usually separates it with a comma, especially in careful writing. So the comma here is a good habit to keep.