Word
Preciso de carregar o telemóvel antes de sair de casa.
Meaning
I need to charge the cellphone before leaving home.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Breakdown of Preciso de carregar o telemóvel antes de sair de casa.
de
of
precisar de
to need
de
from
a casa
the home
Questions & Answers about Preciso de carregar o telemóvel antes de sair de casa.
Why is it preciso de carregar and not just preciso carregar?
In European Portuguese, the verb precisar normally takes the preposition de before a noun or an infinitive.
So you get:
- Preciso de ajuda = I need help
- Preciso de sair = I need to leave
- Preciso de carregar o telemóvel = I need to charge the phone
If you leave out de, it sounds non-standard in Portugal. You may hear preciso carregar in some varieties of Brazilian Portuguese, but for Portugal, preciso de carregar is the safe and natural form.
Could I also say tenho de carregar o telemóvel?
Yes. Tenho de carregar o telemóvel is very natural in Portugal.
The difference is mainly one of nuance:
- Preciso de carregar... = I need to charge...
- Tenho de carregar... = I have to / must charge...
Preciso de often sounds like a practical need. Tenho de can sound a bit more like obligation or necessity.
In this sentence, both work well.
What does carregar mean here? I thought it meant to carry.