Li a apólice ontem.

Li is the 1st person singular form of the verb ler (to read) in the pretérito perfeito simples, which is the normal past tense for a completed action in European Portuguese.

So:

• ler = to read
• li = I read

This verb is irregular, so you cannot guess li just by adding a regular ending to the infinitive.

A few forms of ler in this tense are:

• eu li = I read
• tu leste = you read
• ele/ela leu = he/she read
• nós lemos = we read
• vocês leram = you read
• eles/elas leram = they read

Portuguese often drops the subject pronoun when it is clear from the verb form.

So:

• Li a apólice ontem. = I read the policy yesterday.
• Eu li a apólice ontem. = also correct, but eu is optional here.

Because li can only mean I read, the subject is already clear.

You might include eu for:

• emphasis
• contrast
• extra clarity

For example:

• Eu li a apólice, mas ele não.
  I read the policy, but he didn’t.

Portuguese uses the definite article much more often than English.

Here, a apólice means the policy, with a being the feminine singular definite article.

It suggests a specific policy, probably one already known from context.

Compare:

• Li a apólice ontem. = I read the policy yesterday.
• Li uma apólice ontem. = I read a policy yesterday.

So a is there because Portuguese normally marks whether the noun is definite or indefinite.

Because apólice is a feminine noun in Portuguese.

So you say:

• a apólice = the policy
• uma apólice = a policy

Even if the thing itself has no biological gender, Portuguese nouns still have grammatical gender. This is something you usually just have to learn with each noun.

A good habit is to learn nouns together with their article:

• a apólice
• o livro
• a casa

Apólice usually means a policy, especially an insurance policy or another formal legal/financial document of that type.

In everyday use, it most often refers to:

• apólice de seguro = insurance policy

So if someone says just a apólice, the context often makes clear that they mean an insurance policy.

It is a somewhat formal or technical noun, not an everyday household word like livro or carro.

A rough guide for European Portuguese pronunciation is:

• Li ≈ lee
• a = a very short uh-like sound in connected speech
• apólice ≈ a-PO-li-se
• ontem ≈ ON-tẽj / ON-tain (rough approximation)

A few important points:

• The stress in apólice is on pó.
• The final -ce in European Portuguese sounds like s.
• ontem has a nasal ending, which does not exist in the same way in English.

In connected speech, Li a apólice ontem may sound quite smooth and compressed, especially the unstressed a.

The accent in apólice shows the stressed syllable.

So:

• apólice → stress on pó

Without the accent, a learner might guess the wrong stress pattern.

This written accent is important because Portuguese stress is not always predictable from spelling alone.

So the word is:

• a-PÓ-li-ce
• not a-po-LI-ce
• not A-po-li-ce

Yes, ontem can go in different positions.

These are all possible:

• Li a apólice ontem.
• Ontem, li a apólice.
• Li ontem a apólice.

The first one is very natural and neutral.

In general:

• putting ontem at the end is common and straightforward
• putting ontem at the beginning can highlight the time

For example:

• Ontem, li a apólice. Hoje vou assiná-la.
  Yesterday I read the policy. Today I’m going to sign it.

So the end position is not the only option, just a very normal one.

This is the pretérito perfeito simples, which in European Portuguese is the usual tense for a completed action in the past.

So Li a apólice ontem means that the reading happened yesterday and is viewed as a finished action.

This often matches English I read ... yesterday.

A key point for English speakers: European Portuguese uses this tense very naturally where English uses the simple past.

So this sentence is a standard way to say:

• I read the policy yesterday.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are correct:

• Li a apólice ontem.
• Eu li a apólice ontem.

The version without eu is more neutral and very common, because the verb already tells you who did the action.

The version with eu may sound:

• more emphatic
• more contrastive
• slightly more explicit

For example:

• Eu li a apólice ontem, mas tu não.
  I read the policy yesterday, but you didn’t.

Yes, it is grammatically correct and natural.

It sounds like a normal statement someone might say in a context involving:

• insurance
• contracts
• legal paperwork
• official documents

Because apólice is a fairly specific noun, the sentence feels most natural when the conversation is already about that document.

For example:

• Já leste a apólice?
• Li a apólice ontem.

So the grammar is completely normal; the only thing that makes it a bit less everyday is the formal noun apólice.

Yes. If the object is already known, Portuguese can replace it with a direct object pronoun.

So instead of:

• Li a apólice ontem.

you could say:

• Li-a ontem. = I read it yesterday.

This is more advanced because Portuguese object pronouns have their own placement rules, but it is useful to recognize.

In European Portuguese, this kind of pronoun use is very common in writing and formal speech.

Yes, a few things:

1. The subject is omitted
   English usually needs I, but Portuguese often doesn’t.

2. The article is required
   English might say I read the policy, and Portuguese also needs the article: a apólice.

3. The verb is irregular
   Li does not look much like ler.

4. The noun has grammatical gender
   You must remember a apólice, not o apólice.

5. Pronunciation and stress
   The accent in apólice matters, and ontem has a nasal sound.

So although the sentence is short, it contains several very typical features of Portuguese grammar.