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Estudo literatura na universidade.

Estudo literatura na universidade.
I study literature at university.
From Lesson 180:A cultura e o desporto (a canção, empatar)·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Estudo literatura na universidade.

Why is there no word for 'I' before Estudo?
In Portuguese, the verb ending tells you who is doing the action. The -o ending in Estudo clearly means 'I study' (from the verb estudar). You can say Eu estudo, but dropping Eu is much more common and sounds natural.
Why isn't there a word for 'the' before literatura?
When talking about academic subjects or fields of study right after verbs like estudar (to study) or aprender (to learn), you generally do not use the definite article. You just use the name of the subject.
Why does it say na universidade instead of just em universidade?
The word na is a combination of the preposition em (in/at) and the feminine article a (the). Unlike English, which says 'at university' without 'the', Portuguese requires the article for specific institutions, literally translating to 'in the university'.
How do we know that universidade is a feminine noun?
In Portuguese, almost all nouns ending in -dade are feminine. This is a very useful pattern to remember because these words usually correspond to English words ending in '-ty', like 'city' (cidade) or 'university' (universidade).

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