Breakdown of Antigamente, comia um feijãozinho aqui todos os dias.
aqui
here
um
a / an / some (all forms)
comer
to eat
todos os dias
every day
antigamente
in the past
o feijão
the bean
Questions & Answers about Antigamente, comia um feijãozinho aqui todos os dias.
Why is the diminutive feijãozinho instead of just adding -inho to the end?
Does um feijãozinho literally mean one single small bean in this sentence?
Not exactly! While it literally means a small bean, in casual Portuguese it often refers affectionately to a portion of bean stew or a bean-based meal. The diminutive suffix -zinho is used here to express warmth or fondness for the food, rather than its actual physical size.
Why is the verb comia used here instead of the simple past tense comi?
Comia is in the Imperfect tense, which describes past habits or ongoing routines. The words antigamente (formerly) and todos os dias (every day) are strong trigger words for the Imperfect, showing that eating the stew was a repeated past habit rather than a one-time completed action.
Since comia can refer to multiple different pronouns, how do we know it means I in this context?
The Imperfect tense form comia is identical for the first-person eu and third-person singular pronouns. However, when native speakers share personal memories or anecdotes without specifying a subject, it is practically always understood as eu. If the speaker were talking about someone else, they would include the pronoun to clear up any ambiguity.
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