Breakdown of Dispo a camisa antes de dormir.
a camisa
the shirt
dormir
to sleep
antes de
before
despir
to take off (clothes)
Questions & Answers about Dispo a camisa antes de dormir.
I thought the verb for 'to undress' was despir. Why is it spelled dispo here?
Despir is a slightly irregular verb. In the present tense, the letter e changes to an i, but only for the 'I' form (eu dispo). For the other present tense forms, it stays an e, like tu despes (you undress) or ele despe (he undresses).
Why does the sentence use a camisa (the shirt) instead of a minha camisa (my shirt)?
In Portuguese, when you are talking about personal items like clothing or body parts, you usually just use the definite article (a or o) instead of a possessive word like minha. Because you are doing the action to yourself, it is already obvious that it is your own shirt.
Why do we need the word de after antes?
When you use antes (before) or depois (after) right before an action (verb) or a noun, you must connect them with the preposition de. Here, antes de dormir translates to 'before sleeping', but the Portuguese structure is literally 'before of to sleep'.
Could I use the verb tirar instead of despir to mean 'take off' here?
Yes! Tirar means 'to take out' or 'to remove', and it is very commonly used for taking off clothing. You will often hear people say tiro a camisa instead of dispo a camisa, and both mean exactly the same thing in this context.
Learn Dispo a camisa antes de dormir and more in Portuguese
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free