Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Não durmo bem na casa da minha irmã. - I do not sleep well at my sister's house.

Não durmo bem na casa da minha irmã.

I do not sleep well at my sister's house.

Breakdown of Não durmo bem na casa da minha irmã.

Questions & Answers about Não durmo bem na casa da minha irmã.

Why isn't there a word for "I" at the start of the sentence?

In Portuguese, the verb ending usually tells you who is doing the action. Durmo specifically means "I sleep", so you don't need to add the pronoun eu (I) unless you want to emphasize it.

Why use na before casa instead of a word that just means "at"?

In Portuguese, "in", "on", or "at" is usually expressed with the preposition em. When em comes before a feminine noun like casa, it combines with the word for "the" (a) to become na (em + a). So, na casa literally means "in the house".

Why does the sentence say da minha irmã instead of just "de minha irmã"?

The word da is a mix of de (of) and a (the). In European Portuguese, you almost always put "the" before possessive words like minha (my). So you are literally saying "of the my sister".

The verb for "to sleep" is dormir. Why does it change to durmo here instead of "dormo"?