Breakdown of Eu digo feliz aniversário ao meu amigo.
eu
I
o amigo
the friend (m)
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
dizer
to say
feliz aniversário
happy birthday
Questions & Answers about Eu digo feliz aniversário ao meu amigo.
How can I change this sentence to the near future ('I am going to say')?
To use the near future, you need the present tense of ir (to go) plus the infinitive of the main verb. The 'eu' form of ir is vou, and the infinitive of the main verb here is dizer. The sentence becomes: Eu vou dizer feliz aniversário ao meu amigo.
Why is it ao meu amigo instead of just a meu amigo?
In European Portuguese, it is standard to put a definite article ('the') before a possessive word like meu. You are literally saying 'to the my friend'. The preposition a (to) merges with the masculine article o (the) to form the contraction ao.
digo doesn't look like a regular verb ending. What is the infinitive?
How would the end of the sentence change if I were speaking about a female friend?
You would change ao meu amigo to à minha amiga. amiga is feminine, so the possessive changes to minha. Also, the contraction ao (a + o) changes to à (a + a), which combines 'to' and the feminine 'the'.
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