A médica pediu-me que não coçasse a picada e que massajasse o pescoço com cuidado.

Because it refers to a specific female doctor, not to the profession in general.

• a médica = the doctor / the female doctor
• médica by itself is more like doctor as a profession, for example: Ela é médica = She is a doctor

In Portuguese, when you mean a specific person, using the definite article is very common.

Pediu-me means asked me.

Breakdown:

• pediu = asked
• me = me / to me

In European Portuguese, unstressed object pronouns often come after the verb in affirmative main clauses. This is called enclisis.

So:

• A médica pediu-me... = The doctor asked me...

The hyphen shows that the pronoun is attached to the verb.

This is especially important for learners because European Portuguese strongly prefers pediu-me, while Brazilian Portuguese often prefers me pediu.

It is an indirect object here.

The structure is:

• pedir algo a alguém = to ask something of someone / to ask someone to do something

So in this sentence:

• the doctor asked me
• to do certain things

That is why me means to me in grammatical terms, even though in natural English we usually just say asked me.

After pedir when introducing what someone was asked to do, Portuguese very often uses:

• pedir a alguém que + subjunctive

So:

• A médica pediu-me que...

This is a very common and standard pattern.

In English, we often say:

• The doctor asked me not to scratch...

But Portuguese usually prefers a full clause with que plus a subjunctive verb.

They are in the imperfect subjunctive.

That happens because the main verb pediu is in the past, and the sentence is reporting a request.

A very common pattern is:

• present main verb → present subjunctive
• past main verb → imperfect subjunctive

Compare:

• A médica pede-me que não coce a picada.
• A médica pediu-me que não coçasse a picada.

And similarly:

• ...que massaje o pescoço
• ...que massajasse o pescoço

So the sentence uses the normal tense sequence after a past verb of asking.

Because there are two parallel subordinate clauses:

• que não coçasse a picada
• e que massajasse o pescoço com cuidado

Repeating que is very natural and clear in Portuguese.

You may sometimes see the second que omitted in simpler sentences, but repeating it is standard and often sounds better, especially in careful writing.

Because here the verb has a direct object:

• coçar a picada = to scratch the bite

So the thing being scratched is explicitly named: a picada.

If you use coçar-se, that means to scratch oneself in a more general way.

Compare:

• Não coçasse a picada. = She asked me not to scratch the bite.
• Não se coçasse. = She asked me not to scratch myself.

So the non-reflexive form is exactly right here.

Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English.

Here:

• a picada = the specific bite already being talked about
• o pescoço = the neck

English often omits or changes articles where Portuguese keeps them.

This is especially common when referring to:

• something already known in the context
• body parts
• specific objects or conditions

So a picada and o pescoço sound completely natural.

Because in Portuguese, body parts often use the definite article instead of a possessive when it is obvious whose body part is meant.

So:

• massajar o pescoço = massage the neck

naturally implies my neck here because the context already makes that clear.

Using o meu pescoço is possible, but it would usually add emphasis, contrast, or extra explicitness.

For example:

• massajar o meu pescoço, não o teu = massage my neck, not yours

Without that kind of contrast, o pescoço is more natural.

No. In this sentence, não only negates the first action:

• que não coçasse a picada = that I should not scratch the bite
• e que massajasse o pescoço com cuidado = and that I should massage the neck carefully

So the meaning is:

• don’t scratch the bite
• do massage the neck carefully

If both actions were negative, Portuguese would normally repeat não:

• ...que não coçasse a picada e que não massajasse o pescoço...

Both are correct, but com cuidado is more natural and everyday in many contexts.

So:

• massajar o pescoço com cuidado = very natural
• massajar o pescoço cuidadosamente = also correct, but a bit more formal or literary

Portuguese often prefers a simple expression with com + noun where English learners might expect a single adverb.

This is about Portuguese spelling rules.

ç in coçasse

The ç gives an s sound before a, o, or u.

So:

• coça
• coçasse

Without the cedilla, c before a would sound like k.

ss in massajasse

Between vowels, a single s often sounds like z, so Portuguese uses ss to keep the strong s sound.

j in massajasse

The j gives the zh sound.

That is why the verb is spelled massajar and massajasse.

A related noun is massagem, where g before e gives the same sound. So:

• massajar
• massagem

They are related, just spelled according to normal Portuguese spelling rules.

Yes, you may hear that, especially in speech:

• A médica pediu-me para não coçar a picada...

But pedir a alguém que + subjunctive is a very standard and very common structure in European Portuguese, especially in more careful language.

So:

• pediu-me que não coçasse... = very standard
• pediu-me para não coçar... = also possible

Using que + subjunctive often sounds a bit more precise and traditional in this kind of sentence.