Breakdown of O Pedro estabeleceu uma meta semanal de caminhar três vezes ao ar livre.
Questions & Answers about O Pedro estabeleceu uma meta semanal de caminhar três vezes ao ar livre.
In European Portuguese, it is very common (and usually more natural) to use the definite article with people’s names:
- O Pedro
- A Maria
- O João
It doesn’t mean the Peter in a literal way; it’s just how the language works in many contexts, especially in informal or neutral speech.
A few notes:
- In European Portuguese, using the article with names is very frequent in everyday speech.
- In Brazilian Portuguese, many speakers don’t use the article with names (they would more often just say Pedro estabeleceu…), though some regions do use it.
So in Portugal, O Pedro estabeleceu… sounds completely natural and typical.
Estabeleceu is the pretérito perfeito simples (simple past). It’s used for a completed action in the past:
- O Pedro estabeleceu uma meta…
→ Peter set a goal (at some specific time in the past; the act of setting the goal is complete).
Compared with other options:
- estabelecia (pretérito imperfeito)
→ would suggest a repeated or ongoing action in the past:
O Pedro estabelecia metas semanais = Peter used to set weekly goals. - estabeleceu (in the sentence you have)
→ one finished action; he set this goal, done.
So here, we are just stating a simple fact about something Peter did.
Meta semanal literally means weekly goal, with semanal working as an adjective:
- meta = goal
- semanal = weekly
This is a natural, compact way in Portuguese to say weekly goal.
You could also say:
- uma meta por semana
→ a goal per week (slightly different nuance; more about the rate/frequency). - a meta desta semana
→ this week’s goal (refers specifically to the current week).
In your sentence, we’re talking about a general weekly habit or plan, so meta semanal is a good choice: it focuses on the type of goal (weekly) rather than on a particular week.
In Portuguese, when you specify the content or purpose of a meta, you normally use de + infinitive:
- uma meta de ler mais = a goal of reading more
- uma meta de poupar dinheiro = a goal of saving money
- uma meta de caminhar… = a goal of walking…
The de links meta to the infinitive verb that describes what the goal is about.
Without de, it would sound incorrect or at least very odd:
✗ uma meta semanal caminhar (wrong).
So the pattern is:
meta de + [infinitive]
You could say:
- O Pedro estabeleceu uma meta semanal para caminhar três vezes ao ar livre.
This is grammatically correct and understandable.
The nuance:
- meta de caminhar
→ Very standard collocation: the goal of walking. - meta para caminhar
→ Literally: a goal for walking; focuses more on the purpose.
In many everyday contexts, both would be acceptable, but meta de + infinitive is the more typical, formulaic pattern with meta.
After de (in this type of construction), Portuguese usually uses the infinitive to express an action in a general, non-conjugated way:
- uma meta de caminhar
- uma vontade de viajar
- um plano de estudar mais
The infinitive here functions similarly to English to + verb (a goal to walk).
You generally wouldn’t conjugate the verb after de in this pattern:
✗ uma meta de caminha (wrong)
✓ uma meta de caminhar (correct)
So the rule of thumb:
de + [infinitive] when you’re describing the content of a goal, plan, idea, etc.
Both caminhar and andar can involve walking, but:
- caminhar
- Often suggests walking as an activity, sometimes for exercise or leisure.
- Closer to to walk / to go for a walk in a more deliberate or health-related sense.
- andar
- Very general verb: “to walk”, “to go around”, “to move about”, even “to ride” in some contexts (andar de bicicleta = to ride a bike).
- In many contexts, andar is the default everyday verb for “to walk”.
In your sentence, caminhar fits well because it sounds like a conscious habit/health goal:
- uma meta semanal de caminhar…
→ a weekly goal of going for walks.
Três vezes means three times and focuses on how many occurrences of walking, without specifying length or duration:
- caminhar três vezes = to walk three times.
Alternatives:
- três caminhadas
→ three walks (counting the walks themselves as events; also natural). - três dias por semana
→ three days a week (focuses on days, not just individual walk sessions).
In your sentence, três vezes is neutral and flexible: maybe shorter walks, maybe longer; we just know he wants to do it three separate times.
Ao ar livre literally means in the open air and is the standard expression for outdoors / outside in this sense.
- a (preposition) + o (definite article) → ao
- ar livre = open air (literally “free air”)
So:
- ao ar livre ≈ outdoors / in the open air
We don’t normally say ✗ no ar livre. The fixed, idiomatic collocation is ao ar livre.
Other options meaning “outside” in different registers:
- ao ar livre → neutral, common when talking about activities (exercising, eating, etc.)
- no exterior / no outdoor (in some marketing/fitness contexts, but more formal or anglicized)
- na rua / lá fora → “in the street / outside” (more concrete, not the same nuance as the set phrase ao ar livre).
Portuguese has some flexibility in word order for adverbial phrases like três vezes and ao ar livre. For example, all of these are possible:
- …de caminhar três vezes ao ar livre.
- …de caminhar ao ar livre três vezes por semana.
- …de caminhar, ao ar livre, três vezes. (with commas, more emphatic)
Typical, most natural orders would keep:
- The main verb + its basic complement
- Then the frequency
- Then the place
For instance:
- caminhar três vezes por semana ao ar livre
- caminhar ao ar livre três vezes por semana
Your original word order is perfectly natural and clear in European Portuguese.
Nouns in Portuguese have grammatical gender. The gender is arbitrary and must be learned with each noun:
- meta is a feminine noun → a meta / uma meta
- objetivo is a masculine noun → o objetivo / um objetivo
Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number:
- uma meta semanal
- meta: feminine, singular
- semanal: adjective; same form for masculine/feminine, but it agrees in being singular.
- If it were plural: umas metas semanais
So we use uma, not um, because meta is feminine.
It sounds natural and correct in European Portuguese, slightly on the neutral-to-formal side because of the verb choice estabeleceu and the noun meta.
For everyday speech, many people might phrase the same idea a bit more colloquially, for example:
- O Pedro decidiu que, todas as semanas, ia caminhar três vezes ao ar livre.
- O Pedro pôs como objetivo caminhar ao ar livre três vezes por semana.
Your original wording, however,
- O Pedro estabeleceu uma meta semanal de caminhar três vezes ao ar livre.
is perfectly good Portuguese, and would fit well in written text, conversation about fitness, coaching, or any context where you talk explicitly about goals and planning.