O técnico mostrou-me onde estava o cursor e quais teclas eu devia carregar.

In European Portuguese, object pronouns are very often attached to the end of the verb in affirmative main clauses. This is called enclisis.

So:

• mostrou-me = showed me

This is the normal European Portuguese pattern here.

In Brazilian Portuguese, me mostrou is much more common, but in Portugal mostrou-me sounds more natural in this sentence.

The hyphen is required when the pronoun is attached this way.

-me is the unstressed object pronoun meaning me.

So:

• mostrou-me = showed me
• literally: showed-to-me

The verb mostrar can take:

• the person who is shown something
• the thing being shown

In this sentence, the things shown are:

• onde estava o cursor
• quais teclas eu devia carregar

So the technician showed me those things.

Portuguese often goes straight from the main verb into a clause without needing an extra that.

English can say:

• He showed me where the cursor was and which keys I should press.

Portuguese does the same kind of thing:

• mostrou-me onde estava o cursor
• e quais teclas eu devia carregar

No extra linking word is needed.

Because estar is used for location.

Here, the idea is where the cursor was located, so Portuguese uses estar:

• onde estava o cursor = where the cursor was

Using ser here would sound wrong, because ser is not normally used for physical location.

A useful shortcut:

• ser = identity, description, classification
• estar = state, condition, location

Both are understandable, but onde estava o cursor is very natural in Portuguese.

After words like:

• onde = where
• quando = when
• como = how
• quais = which

Portuguese often allows or prefers verb–subject order, especially in embedded clauses.

So:

• onde estava o cursor = very natural
• onde o cursor estava = also possible, but less elegant here

English usually keeps the subject before the verb, but Portuguese is freer with this.

Quais means which when choosing from identifiable options.

So:

• quais teclas = which keys

In many contexts, que teclas can also be heard and understood, but quais teclas is the more standard and precise choice here when talking about selecting specific keys.

A simple way to think of it:

• quais = which ones / which specific ones
• que = what / which

In this sentence, the technician is identifying specific keys, so quais fits very well.

Because quais already works as the determiner.

So Portuguese says:

• quais teclas = which keys

Not:

• quais as teclas in this structure

This is similar to English, where we say which keys, not which the keys.

Yes, it could be left out.

Portuguese often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the subject:

• eu devia carregar
• devia carregar

Both can mean I should press / I was supposed to press.

Here, eu may be included for:

• clarity
• emphasis
• contrast
• smoother rhythm

So the sentence would still be correct as:

• O técnico mostrou-me onde estava o cursor e quais teclas devia carregar.

Including eu just makes the subject more explicit.

The verb dever has several related meanings, including:

• to owe
• to be supposed to
• should / ought to

In this sentence, devia carregar means something like:

• should press
• was supposed to press
• needed to press

So devia is not about money here. It expresses obligation or recommendation.

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Both are possible, but they are not exactly the same in tone.

• devia carregar often sounds more natural and common in everyday Portuguese
• deveria carregar can sound more formal, more hypothetical, or more explicitly conditional

In many real-life sentences, European Portuguese uses the imperfect form devia where English would use should.

So:

• quais teclas eu devia carregar = very natural

Yes, carregar has several meanings depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• to carry
• to load
• to charge
• in Portugal, to press a button or key

Here it means:

• to press

So:

• carregar uma tecla
• carregar nas teclas
• carregar no botão

all relate to pressing keys or buttons.

This is especially common in European Portuguese. An English speaker may expect something closer to press, but carregar is very normal in Portugal for keys and buttons.

Yes. Premir means to press, and it is also correct.

However, in everyday European Portuguese, carregar is extremely common when talking about:

• buttons
• keys
• touchscreens

So carregar sounds very natural here.

For example:

• Carregue na tecla Enter.
• Prima a tecla Enter.

Both are correct, but carregar is often more common in ordinary speech.

Because with carregar, Portuguese often uses the verb directly with the thing being pressed, without a preposition.

So:

• carregar teclas = press keys

You may also hear:

• carregar nas teclas
• carregar na tecla

especially in other contexts, but in this sentence the direct-object structure is perfectly natural.

So quais teclas eu devia carregar is a normal way to say which keys I should press.

Because cursor is a masculine noun in Portuguese.

So you say:

• o cursor

Many Portuguese nouns do not have a gender that can be guessed from meaning alone, so this is something you usually learn together with the noun.

Here are some computer-related examples:

• o cursor
• o rato = the mouse
• o teclado = the keyboard
• a tecla = the key

Estava is the imperfect of estar.

Here it means:

• was

So:

• onde estava o cursor = where the cursor was

The imperfect is used because this is background information inside a past situation. The technician showed the speaker the location of the cursor at that time.

It is not really emphasizing a completed action; it is describing a state or situation in the past.

Devia is the imperfect of dever.

Here it expresses what the speaker was supposed to do or should do in that situation.

So:

• quais teclas eu devia carregar = which keys I should press / was supposed to press

The imperfect works well here because it refers to an obligation or expectation that existed at that moment in the past.

Yes. Mostrar can introduce not only nouns, but also embedded clauses.

For example:

• Mostrou-me o cursor. = He showed me the cursor.
• Mostrou-me onde estava o cursor. = He showed me where the cursor was.
• Mostrou-me quais teclas eu devia carregar. = He showed me which keys I should press.

So in your sentence, the two clauses act as the content of what was shown.

Because this is a straightforward coordination of two parallel parts:

• onde estava o cursor
• quais teclas eu devia carregar

They are both linked to mostrou-me, and Portuguese normally does not put a comma before e in a simple structure like this.

So the sentence flows as one unit:

• he showed me where the cursor was and which keys I should press

Yes, it strongly looks like European Portuguese, mainly because of mostrou-me and carregar in this context.

Two strong clues are:

• mostrou-me
  This attached pronoun is especially characteristic of European Portuguese in neutral written style.

• carregar for pressing keys
  This is very common in Portugal.

A Brazilian Portuguese version might more naturally look like:

• O técnico me mostrou onde estava o cursor e quais teclas eu devia apertar.

That is not the only possible Brazilian version, but it shows the kind of differences a learner may notice.