O meu pai põe coentros na sopa.

In Portuguese, it is very common to use the definite article before a possessive:

• o meu pai = my father
• literally: the my father

This sounds strange in English, but it is normal in European Portuguese. So o meu pai is the usual natural way to say my father.

You may sometimes hear possessives without the article in certain contexts, but for a learner, o meu pai is the safe and standard pattern to use.

Because pai is a masculine singular noun.

The possessive must agree with the noun possessed, not with the speaker:

• o meu pai = my father
• a minha mãe = my mother

So:

• meu = masculine singular
• minha = feminine singular
• meus = masculine plural
• minhas = feminine plural

Põe means puts.

It comes from the verb pôr, which means to put.

So:

• pôr = to put
• ele põe = he puts
• o meu pai põe = my father puts

In this sentence, o meu pai is he, so the verb is in the 3rd person singular form: põe.

Yes. Pôr is irregular, and põe is one of its irregular present-tense forms.

A few present-tense forms are:

• eu ponho = I put
• tu pões = you put
• ele/ela põe = he/she puts
• nós pomos = we put
• vós pondes = you put
• eles/elas põem = they put

So põe is not formed in a simple regular pattern like many other verbs.

The õ shows that the vowel is nasal.

So põe is not pronounced like a simple poe. The vowel sound is nasalized, which is an important feature of Portuguese pronunciation.

Also, the spelling helps distinguish forms clearly. In practice, for a learner, the key thing is:

• põe = a present-tense form of pôr
• the õ signals a nasal sound

Because Portuguese often uses the plural when talking about herbs, leaves, or chopped ingredients in a general sense.

So coentros means coriander/cilantro leaves as an ingredient.

In English, we might say:

• He puts coriander in the soup
• He adds cilantro to the soup

But in Portuguese, coentros in the plural is very natural.

In Portugal, coentros usually refers to coriander (the herb). In American English, this is often called cilantro when talking about the leaves.

So:

• European Portuguese coentros ≈ British English coriander
• European Portuguese coentros ≈ American English cilantro

This is mainly a vocabulary difference between varieties of English, not a grammar issue.

Because na is a contraction of:

• em + a = na

So:

• na sopa = in the soup

This kind of contraction is very common in Portuguese:

• no = em + o
• na = em + a
• nos = em + os
• nas = em + as

So na sopa is the correct normal form, not em a sopa.

Portuguese often uses the definite article where English does not.

In this sentence:

• na sopa literally = in the soup

Even though English may simply say in soup or in the soup depending on context, Portuguese naturally uses the article here.

So na sopa is the idiomatic way to say it.

Yes, that is possible, but it changes the nuance slightly.

• põe coentros na sopa = he puts coriander/cilantro in the soup, speaking generally about the ingredient
• põe os coentros na sopa = he puts the coriander/cilantro in the soup, referring to a specific bunch or amount already understood in the context

So the version without the article is more general and very natural when talking about ingredients.

The sentence follows a very straightforward pattern:

• O meu pai = subject
• põe = verb
• coentros = direct object
• na sopa = prepositional phrase / place where the ingredient is put

So the structure is basically:

Subject + Verb + Object + Prepositional phrase

This is similar to English:

My father + puts + coriander + in the soup

A rough learner-friendly guide would be something like:

u mayu pai põi cu-EN-trush nɐ SO-pɐ

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• o in o meu pai is often pronounced like u
• meu sounds roughly like mayu
• põe has a nasal vowel
• coentros in European Portuguese often sounds closer to cuentrush or coentrush
• the final -a in sopa is usually a very reduced sound in European Portuguese

The exact pronunciation will vary by region and speed, but those are the main things to notice.