Breakdown of Ela imita pássaros mesmo bem!
ela
she
bem
well / fine
o pássaro
the bird
mesmo
really, truly (emphatic)
imitar
to imitate
Questions & Answers about Ela imita pássaros mesmo bem!
Why does mesmo come right before bem instead of earlier in the sentence?
As a focus adverb, mesmo modifies the word or phrase immediately following it. By placing it right before bem, the focus is on how well she does it (really well). If it were placed earlier, like Ela imita mesmo pássaros, the syntactic scope shifts to the verb, meaning she 'really does' imitate birds.
Does mesmo bem mean exactly the same thing as muito bem?
They are very similar, but mesmo adds a stronger conversational flavor. While muito bem just means 'very well', using mesmo expresses genuine emphasis or even mild surprise, translating closer to 'truly well' or 'really well'.
Why is there no article before pássaros? Don't we usually need definite articles for general categories in Portuguese?
You do use definite articles for general subjects (like Os pássaros cantam), but when a plural noun is the direct object of a verb and refers to an indefinite, general type rather than a specific group, the article is dropped. If you said imita os pássaros, it would mean she imitates specific birds you were just talking about.
Could I put mesmo at the very end of the sentence, like Ela imita pássaros bem mesmo?
Placing mesmo at the end of a phrase for emphasis is extremely common in Brazilian Portuguese, but in European Portuguese it sounds unnatural. In Portugal, this focus adverb needs to stay immediately before the word it is intensifying, which is why it must be mesmo bem here.
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