Depois, pediu-nos para comentar o primeiro capítulo.

In European Portuguese, unstressed object pronouns such as me, te, lhe, nos, vos, lhes, o, a, os, as are often attached to the verb with a hyphen when they come after it. This is called enclisis.

So:

• pediu = he/she asked
• nos = us
• pediu-nos = he/she asked us

This is very common in standard European Portuguese. In Brazilian Portuguese, you would more often hear or see pediu para a gente... or nos pediu..., depending on the context and register.

Nos is the direct or indirect object pronoun meaning us.

In this sentence, it means that we were the people being asked.

So the structure is:

• pediu-nos = asked us

Here, nos functions as the person receiving the request.

In European Portuguese, the default position for many unstressed object pronouns is after the verb, especially in a simple affirmative clause with nothing forcing the pronoun to come before the verb.

So:

• pediu-nos = standard and natural in European Portuguese

There are situations where pronouns go before the verb, but that usually happens when there is a trigger such as:

• não
• certain adverbs
• relative pronouns
• indefinite words like ninguém, alguém, etc.
• some subordinating conjunctions

For example:

• Não nos pediu nada. = He/She didn’t ask us for anything.

But in your sentence, nothing triggers that, so pediu-nos is the expected European Portuguese form.

Pediu is the 3rd person singular of the pretérito perfeito simples of pedir.

That means it usually translates as:

• he asked
• she asked
• sometimes it asked, depending on context

It refers to a completed action in the past.

The verb pedir means to ask for, to request, or sometimes to ask someone to do something.

The subject is not stated explicitly in the sentence. Portuguese often leaves subject pronouns out when they are understood from the context.

So pediu could mean:

• he asked
• she asked
• you asked (formal você, in some contexts)
• less commonly something else depending on context

Most likely, from context, it means he/she asked us.

Para + infinitive is a very common way to express purpose or what someone is asked/told to do.

So:

• pediu-nos para comentar = asked us to comment

Literally, it is something like:

• asked us for the purpose of commenting
• but in natural English: asked us to comment

This pattern is very common:

• Pediu-me para esperar. = He/She asked me to wait.
• Pediram-nos para sair. = They asked us to leave.

Yes, that is possible, but it is a different structure.

Compare:

• pediu-nos para comentar o primeiro capítulo
• pediu-nos que comentássemos o primeiro capítulo

Both can mean asked us to comment on the first chapter.

The difference is mainly grammatical:

1. pedir + para + infinitive

   • very common
   • usually more straightforward
   • especially natural when the subject of the infinitive is understood

2. pedir + que + subjunctive

   • also correct
   • often a little more formal or more explicitly structured

So your sentence uses the simpler and very common para + infinitive pattern.

In Portuguese, comentar usually takes a direct object directly, without needing sobre.

So the natural structure is:

• comentar o capítulo
• comentar o livro
• comentar o assunto

Using sobre is sometimes possible in certain contexts, but it is often less direct and can sound less idiomatic here.

So in this sentence, comentar o primeiro capítulo is the most natural choice.

Depois means afterwards, then, or later.

It connects this sentence to something that happened earlier. It tells you the action came next in the sequence.

So the overall idea is:

• something happened first
• after that, he/she asked us to comment on the first chapter

The comma after Depois is normal here because it is being used as an introductory adverb.

It is very natural and standard to write:

• Depois, pediu-nos para comentar o primeiro capítulo.

The comma marks Depois as an introductory element. In some short sentences, punctuation can vary a little, but with this kind of sentence, the comma is perfectly normal and helps readability.

In European Portuguese, unstressed vowels are often reduced, so it may sound less fully pronounced than an English speaker expects.

A rough guide:

• pediu sounds approximately like puh-DEE-oo, but more compressed
• nos is unstressed and attached to the verb

Together, pediu-nos is said smoothly as one unit.

Important points:

• diu in pediu is a diphthong-like sequence
• nos is unstressed
• the hyphen is written, but in speech it simply flows together

If you are learning European Portuguese pronunciation, listening to native audio is especially helpful because reduced vowels are hard to predict from spelling alone.

Because Portuguese often uses a different verb pattern from English.

English says:

• comment on something

Portuguese usually says:

• comentar algo

So the preposition on is simply not needed in Portuguese here.

This is a very common thing when learning Portuguese: you should not translate prepositions word for word from English.

Yes, o primeiro capítulo means the first chapter.

In Portuguese, ordinal numbers like primeiro, segundo, terceiro usually come before the noun:

• o primeiro capítulo = the first chapter
• a segunda parte = the second part

That placement is the normal one here.

A useful breakdown is:

• Depois = afterwards / then
• pediu-nos = asked us
• para comentar = to comment
• o primeiro capítulo = the first chapter

So the structure is:

time adverb + verb + object pronoun + para + infinitive + object

This is a very useful pattern to remember:

• Depois, disse-nos para esperar.
• Depois, pediu-me para entrar.
• Depois, mandou-os sair.

It is a common way to report instructions or requests in European Portuguese.