Breakdown of Eu já não durmo muito; prefiro madrugar.
eu
I
muito
much / very
preferir
to prefer
dormir
to sleep
Questions & Answers about Eu já não durmo muito; prefiro madrugar.
Why use já não instead of just não durmo?
já não means "no longer" or "not anymore". While não durmo muito simply states the general fact "I don't sleep much", adding já emphasizes that a change has occurred. It tells us you used to sleep a lot, but that state has now stopped.
Can I separate já and não, like saying não durmo muito já?
In Portuguese, já não acts as a set phrase meaning "no longer" and almost always stays together directly before the verb. You should keep them paired before the verb, unlike English where we put "anymore" at the end of the sentence.
I know dormir means "to sleep". Why is the "I" form spelled durmo instead of dormo?
dormir is an irregular verb in the present tense. It has a vowel change where the root letter o becomes a u, but only in the eu (I) form. The other present tense forms keep the o, such as ele dorme (he sleeps).
Is madrugar a common verb, and does it just mean "to wake up"?