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Comi metade do bolo.

Comi metade do bolo.
I ate half of the cake.
From Lesson 133:As medidas e as quantidades (a dúzia, tanto)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Comi metade do bolo.

Why doesn't the sentence start with "Eu" (I)?
In Portuguese, the verb ending usually tells you exactly who is doing the action. The ending -i in comi is specifically for the first person singular (I) in the simple past tense. Because of this, you can usually leave out eu, unless you want to emphasize it.
I thought the word for "half" was "meio". Why use "metade" here?
Metade is a noun meaning "a half" or "one half", which you use when talking about dividing a physical object like a cake. You use meio when "half" acts as an adjective describing a noun (like meio quilo for half a kilo) or as an adverb meaning "kind of" (like meio cansado for kind of tired).
Why is it "do bolo" instead of just "de bolo"?
Do is a mandatory contraction of the preposition de (of) and the masculine definite article o (the). If you just said de bolo, it would mean "half of cake" in a general, abstract sense. Because you are talking about a specific cake, you need the "the", making it de + o = do.
How do I know if "comi" is past or present tense?
Comi is the past tense form of the regular verb comer (to eat). The present tense form for "I eat" is como. The -i ending is standard for regular verbs ending in -er and -ir when talking about a completed action you did in the past.

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