Learn Portuguese (Portugal): O que queres fazer hoje à noite?

O que queres fazer hoje à noite?

What do you want to do tonight?

Breakdown of O que queres fazer hoje à noite?

at the (fem. sg.) / to the (fem. sg.)

a noite

the night

Questions & Answers about O que queres fazer hoje à noite?

Why is fazer in its full dictionary form here?

When you use a verb like querer (to want) with another action, only the first verb is conjugated to match the person. Here, queres means "you want". The second verb stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form, fazer (to do). It works just like English: "you want to do".

Why do we say o que instead of just que for "what"?

While both mean "what", o que is the most natural and common way to ask "what" in everyday European Portuguese questions. The o (the) doesn't translate directly to English here; it just acts as a helper word to make the question sound complete.

How do we know this is asking "you" when the word for "you" is missing?

In Portuguese, the verb ending usually tells you who is doing the action. Queres is specifically the informal tu (you) form of the verb querer. Because the verb itself makes it obvious, we can drop the word tu entirely.

Literally, what does hoje à noite translate to?

It translates to "today at the night". Portuguese doesn't have a single everyday word that means "tonight", so combining hoje (today) and à noite (at night) is the standard way to express it.