A gente vai estudar português juntos.

We are going to study Portuguese together.

Breakdown of A gente vai estudar português juntos.

• ir: to go
• estudar: to study
• junto: together
• o português: the Portuguese
• a gente: the people

Questions & Answers about A gente vai estudar português juntos.

What does a gente literally mean, and why does it translate as we?

Literally, a gente means the people.

In everyday spoken Portuguese (including in Portugal), a gente is also used as a pronoun with the meaning we or you and I / us. So in this sentence:

• A gente vai estudar português juntos.
  ⇒ We are going to study Portuguese together.

So:

• literal meaning: the people
• practical meaning here: we (informal)

If a gente means we, why is the verb vai in the 3rd person singular instead of vamos?

Grammatically, a gente behaves like a 3rd person singular subject, even though it means we.

So you must conjugate the verb as if it were ele/ela:

• A gente vai (we go / we are going)
  ✅ correct in spoken language
• Ele vai (he goes)
• Ela vai (she goes)

You cannot say:

• ✗ A gente vamos – this is considered wrong or very substandard.

So the rule is: > Meaning: we
> Verb form: 3rd person singular

Can I replace a gente with nós in Portugal, and how does it change the sentence?

Yes. In Portugal, nós is very common and completely natural.

Your sentence would become:

• Nós vamos estudar português juntos.

Differences:

• A gente vai estudar…
  • very informal, conversational
  • sounds a bit more Brazilian, but is also heard in Portugal
• Nós vamos estudar…
  • neutral, suitable almost everywhere (informal and semi‑formal)
  • a bit more typical for European Portuguese

Meaning-wise, they are the same: We are going to study Portuguese together.
The main difference is register (informality) and style, not content.

Is a gente natural in European Portuguese, or is it mainly Brazilian?

In European Portuguese:

• A gente is:
  • used in informal spoken language, especially among younger people or in relaxed contexts
  • more common in some regions and social groups than others
• Nós is:
  • very frequent and perfectly standard in both speech and writing

In Brazilian Portuguese:

• A gente is extremely common in speech and often more frequent than nós.

So in Portugal the sentence is understood and acceptable, but:

• Nós vamos estudar português juntos sounds more typically European.
• A gente vai estudar português juntos may sound more informal and a bit Brazilian‑flavoured to some ears.

Why is it A gente vai estudar… and not A gente vamos estudar…?

Because the verb must agree in form with a gente, not with its meaning.

• A gente → grammatically 3rd person singular
  ⇒ verbs like ele/ela:

  • A gente vai
  • A gente estuda
  • A gente fala

• Nós → 1st person plural
  ⇒ verbs like nós:

  • Nós vamos
  • Nós estudamos
  • Nós falamos

So:

• ✅ A gente vai estudar…
• ✅ Nós vamos estudar…
• ✗ A gente vamos estudar… (non‑standard, should be avoided in correct usage)

Why do we use vai estudar (ir + infinitive) instead of a future form like estudaremos?

Portuguese has two common ways to talk about the future:

1. Periphrastic future: ir + infinitive

   • A gente vai estudar português.
   • Nós vamos estudar português.

2. Simple future: infinitive + future ending

   • Estudaremos português. (we will study Portuguese)

In modern spoken Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil):

• ir + infinitive is much more common, more natural and conversational.
• simple future (e.g., estudaremos) sounds formal, written, or literary, and in Portugal often a bit stiff in everyday speech.

So the sentence uses vai estudar because it sounds natural and colloquial:
We’re going to study Portuguese together.

Why is it estudar português and not estudar o português?

Both are grammatically possible, but there is a nuance:

• Estudar português

  • often used when you mean studying the language as a subject
  • very common with verbs like aprender, estudar, falar, saber
    • language:
      • Estudo português e inglês.
      • Ela fala francês.

• Estudar o português

  • can sound more like studying the Portuguese language (as an object of analysis)
  • slightly more formal or specific
  • used when you emphasise the language itself:
    • Ele estuda o português do século XVI.

In your sentence, estudar português is the natural choice for
to study Portuguese (as a foreign language).

Why is português written with a lowercase p?

In Portuguese:

• Names of languages and nationalities are written with a lowercase initial:

  • português, inglês, francês, alemão…
  • sou português, falo português

• Names of countries, cities, peoples, etc. are capitalized:

  • Portugal, Brasil, França, Alemanha
  • os Portugueses (as a people, noun, can be capitalized in some contexts)

So português in estudar português is lowercase because it is the name of the language or an adjective, not a proper noun like Portugal.

What is the difference between juntos, juntas, and junto?

All come from junto, meaning together / close / next to, but they change with gender and number:

• juntos – masculine plural or mixed group

  • A gente vai estudar português juntos.
    (we – including at least one man – will study together)
  • Nós (homens e mulheres) vamos estudar juntos.

• juntas – feminine plural (only women/girls)

  • Nós (só mulheres) vamos estudar juntas.
  • As amigas vão viajar juntas.

• junto – masculine singular

  • Ele vai comigo junto. (less common structure)
  • More often used in expressions like:
    • junto de mim (next to me)
    • junto à janela (next to the window)

In your sentence, if the group is mixed or includes at least one man, juntos is correct.
If you were talking about only women, you’d say:

• A gente vai estudar português juntas.

Where can juntos go in the sentence? Can I put it elsewhere?

Most natural positions:

• A gente vai estudar português juntos. ✅
• A gente vai estudar juntos português. ❌ sounds wrong/unnatural
• A gente vai estudar, juntos, português. ❌ odd, too broken

General tendencies in European Portuguese:

• juntos/juntas usually comes near the end of the sentence, after the main verb phrase and object:
  • Vamos estudar português juntos.
  • Vamos comer pizza juntos.

Placing juntos before português:

• … estudar juntos português is not natural word order.

So the safest and most common is: > … estudar português juntos.

Could I simply say Vamos estudar português juntos without any subject pronoun? Is that normal in Portugal?

Yes, that is very normal and actually very common in European Portuguese.

• Nós vamos estudar português juntos.
• Vamos estudar português juntos.

Both mean We are going to study Portuguese together.

In Portuguese, the subject pronoun is often dropped because the verb ending already shows the person:

• Vamos estudar… clearly indicates we (1st person plural).

So in Portugal, you will very often hear just:

• Vamos estudar português juntos.
  (probably the most typical European Portuguese version of your sentence)

Is the a in a gente the same as the preposition a meaning to?

Formally, a here is the definite article a (the, feminine singular), as in:

• a casa – the house
• a cidade – the city
• a gente – the people

It is not the preposition a that means to/at.

In the expression a gente used as a pronoun, native speakers no longer feel the literal meaning very strongly; they just interpret it directly as we / people in general. But grammatically, that a is the article, not the preposition.