Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Eu abro a porta.

Eu abro a porta.

I open the door.

Breakdown of Eu abro a porta.

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Questions & Answers about Eu abro a porta.

How do I make the eu (I) form of a regular "-ir" verb like abrir?

You drop the "-ir" ending from abrir (to open) and add "-o" to the end. This gives you abro. Notice that the eu ending is exactly the same ("-o") whether the regular verb ends in "-ar", "-er", or "-ir"!

Since the verb is abro, do I need to include the word eu?

Not necessarily! In Portuguese, the verb ending tells you who is doing the action. Since abro can only mean "I open", you could just say Abro a porta. People usually only include eu to add emphasis, like saying "I am the one opening the door."

How should I pronounce the "o" at the end of abro?

In European Portuguese, when the letter "o" is at the end of a word and isn't stressed, it sounds like the "oo" in the English word "boot". So, abro is pronounced a bit like "AH-broo".

Why do we use a instead of o before porta?

In Portuguese, nouns have a gender (masculine or feminine). Porta (door) is a feminine noun, which you can often guess because it ends in the letter "-a". Therefore, you must use the feminine word for "the", which is a.