Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Ontem, cortei-me no dedo com o papel. - Yesterday, I cut my finger with the paper.

Cortei-me uses the reflexive pronoun me. In English, we say "I cut my finger", but in Portuguese, the structure is closer to "I cut myself". Cortei is the simple past tense form of cortar for "I", and adding -me shows that the action happened to you.

Why is the pronoun me attached to the end of the verb with a hyphen?

In European Portuguese, the default rule is to attach pronouns to the end of the verb with a hyphen. Sometimes, specific words (like não or certain time words) act as "magnets" and pull the pronoun before the verb. Since there are no magnet words pulling the pronoun here, me stays at the end: cortei-me.

The English translation says "my finger", so why isn't the word meu in the Portuguese sentence?

In Portuguese, you generally don't use possessive words like meu (my) with body parts when it is already clear whose body it is. Because you used the reflexive cortei-me (I cut myself), it is completely obvious you mean your own finger, so you only need the word for "the".

Where does the no in no dedo come from?