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Portuguese (Portugal)

When organizing your home, you will often need to describe the process of sorting out junk and getting rid of things.

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### Placement Changes the Meaning

In Portuguese, focus adverbs like **só** and **apenas** (both meaning "only" or "just") highlight specific parts of your sentence. The golden rule is simple: **a focus adverb modifies the word or phrase that immediately follows it**.

If you put **só** before the subject, it means *only that person* performed the action (and no one else).

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If you move **só** to sit before the object, the meaning shifts entirely. Now it means the person acted on *only that thing* (and nothing else).

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Here is another pair demonstrating how moving **só** changes the emphasis from *who* did the tidying to *what* was tidied:

{{item:1037920}}

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### Using "Apenas"

The adverb **apenas** is a common synonym for **só** and follows the exact same placement rules.

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### Emphasizing Concepts and Adjectives

You can also place focus adverbs directly before abstract nouns or adjectives to express that a situation is "only" a certain thing, or "just" a certain way.

{{item:1037927}}

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Focus adverbs (só, apenas)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
to get rid of	livrar-se de
the old junk	a velharia
useless	inútil
I am getting rid of the useless old junk.	Estou a livrar-me da velharia inútil.
Only I kept the useless old junk.	Só eu guardei a velharia inútil.
I kept only the useless old junk.	Eu guardei só a velharia inútil.
the attic	o sótão
Only I tidied the attic.	Só eu arrumei o sótão.
I tidied only the attic.	Eu arrumei só o sótão.
the sorting	a triagem
the pile	a pilha
Only we are sorting the pile.	Apenas a gente está a fazer a triagem da pilha.
We are only sorting the pile.	A gente está a fazer apenas a triagem da pilha.
the detachment	o desapego
Only detachment is a bit difficult.	Só o desapego é um bocado difícil.
minimalist	minimalista
Minimalist detachment is just difficult.	O desapego minimalista é apenas difícil.
What a minimalist attic!	Que sótão minimalista!
intact	intacto
We started to get rid of the intact clothes.	A gente passou a livrar-se da roupa intacta.
the tidying	a arrumação
During the tidying, we sorted the useless clutter.	Durante a arrumação, fizemos a triagem da tralha inútil.
I left a pile of old junk in the attic.	Deixei uma pilha de velharia no sótão.
After the decluttering, only the attic is intact.	Depois da arrumação, apenas o sótão está intacto.