Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Tenho de preparar a reunião amanhã.

Tenho de preparar a reunião amanhã.

I have to prepare the meeting tomorrow.

Breakdown of Tenho de preparar a reunião amanhã.

Questions & Answers about Tenho de preparar a reunião amanhã.

Why do we use de between tenho and preparar?

To say you 'have to' do something, Portuguese uses the verb ter (to have) followed by the word de and then the main action verb in its base form (called the infinitive). Here, tenho de gives us 'I have to', and the infinitive preparar means 'to prepare'.

I've heard people say tenho que instead of tenho de. Can I use either?

In European Portuguese, ter de is the grammatically correct way to express a duty or obligation like 'have to'. You might hear ter que in casual everyday speech or in Brazilian Portuguese, but it is best to learn and use ter de in Portugal.

Where is the word for 'I' (eu) in this sentence?

In Portuguese, we can usually leave out subject pronouns like eu (I) because the verb ending tells us exactly who is doing the action. The form tenho specifically means 'I have', so adding eu at the beginning isn't necessary here.

How do I know that reunião is a feminine word?