In this text, we will highlight an important subject, regarding the facts that guide grammatical studies. If you have doubts, some tips can help you to overcome these obstacles, in order to expand even more their linguistic competence, more specifically referring to the written modality of the language. In this sense, here are some tips, with the purpose of approaching an important subject related to “verbal agreement”, having as key parts the verbs and the pronoun “if”.
First, you must pay attention to two basic circumstances: the pronoun in question acts as passive pronoun and as subject's indeterminacy index. So let us analyze both cases:
Passive Pronoun
In some circumstances, the pronoun in question accompanies direct transitive verbs, that is, those whose complements are not accompanied by a preposition. Let's look at an example:
fix themselves shoes.
The highlighted term acts as a complement to a direct transitive verb (fix), thus representing the direct object.
Following this line of reasoning, when it comes to the voice expressed, it is demarcated by the
voice synthetic passive. In this way, keeping to the purpose of transforming it to the analytical passive voice, we will obtain as a result:Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Shoes are fixed. Thus, we see the clear agreement that occurs between the subject (shoes) and the verb (fix).
Here is the circumstance in which the pronoun “if” acts as such, requiring adequate verbal agreement.
subject indeterminacy index
In order to check the characteristics that demarcate the fact in question, see two examples, shown below:
Experienced seamstresses needed.
You live peacefully in this place.
In both cases, the verb remained in the third person singular, given the reasons in evidence, respectively expressed:
In the first statement, we have an indirect transitive verb (to need), because whoever needs, needs someone or something. In this sense, the indirect object is represented by “experienced seamstresses”.
In the second, we witness an intransitive verb, whose main characteristic is that it has a complete meaning, that is, it does not depend on any term. These reasons make the pronoun “if” act as an index of the subject's indeterminacy.
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
DUARTE, Vânia Maria do Nascimento. "Agreement between verbs and the pronoun if"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/concordancia-entre-verbos-pronome-se.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.