Two tips about Portuguese language

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You may have already heard that our Portuguese language is among the most difficult languages ​​in the world, right? After all, does the statement confer or is it just an “opposition intrigue”?

Well, you who have mastered Portuguese since you were a child, you must have noticed that our grammar is not exactly easy to understand, since it involves countless rules and, to our despair, countless exceptions. Therefore, to say that the Portuguese language is an easy language would contradict our entire experience as skilled speakers.

It can even be difficult, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to master its rules, quite the opposite: who starts to study normative grammar (it's called normative grammar the grammar that seeks to dictate or prescribe the grammatical rules of a language, positioning its prescriptions as the only way correct language realization and categorizing the other possible ways as wrong) is enchanted by our vernacular and learns its minutiae.

Mastering the rules of the cultured norm greatly improves our writing, an indispensable competence for anyone who wants rock the essays for competitions and entrance exams and even improve communication in the environment professional.

In order for you to stay on top of some specifics of our normative grammar, the Escola Educação website has prepared two super tips that will facilitate your learning: Verbal agreement with displaced subject and accentuation of verbs linked to oblique pronouns.

These are tips that include content that we don't always learn at school (which we see too quickly!), after all, amidst so many disciplines and approaches, it is natural that some particularities are not visited. How about making up for lost time? Stay tuned for tips and good studies!

1. Verbal agreement with displaced subject

We call syntax the study of the relationships that words establish with each other in clauses and of the relationships that are established between clauses in periods. One of the most interesting aspects of the syntax of the Portuguese language is agreement.

In order to have verbal agreement in a sentence, the verb must agree with the subject in number and person. Generally, whether in written or oral modality, our speech follows a direct order, that is, our utterances respect the maxim subject → predicate → complement. When this direct order prevails, our speech becomes clearer and more objective, so we avoid going against it.

However, there are situations in which the subject appears displaced in a sentence, that is, in a position after the verb, thus being easily confused with the complements. Confusion occurs mainly with the verbs that normally have the subject on their right: EXIST, OCCUR, HAPPEN, MISSING, REMAIN, REMAIN, ENOUGH, FIT. For example:

Inexplicable phenomena occurred.

We note that the verb did not make the correct number agreement with the subject because it is outside its usual position. However, making a more detailed analysis of the sentence structure, it is possible to correct the error:

Inexplicable phenomena occurred.

It is important to point out that the verb must agree with the subject wherever he is. Below are some examples with correctly corrected concordance errors:

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• Last year the conferences began. (incorrect)
  Last year the conferences began. (right)

• In this way, attempts of bribery were proven. (incorrect)
  In this way, attempts at bribery were proven. (right)

• Only two slices of cake remained. (incorrect)
  Only two slices of cake are left. (right)

• Twenty reais to go. (incorrect)
  Twenty reais to go. (right)

1. Should verbs attached to oblique pronouns be accented or not?

There are two possible answers to the question: Yes and no. Some verbs linked to oblique pronouns must be accented, while others are not accented. Why does it happen?

In our language, graphic accentuation rules reserve accents for less common words. Based on this assumption, we have the following basic rules:

1. proparoxytones – are all accented;
2. paroxytones – are the most numerous words in the language and therefore receive fewer accents. Those ending in:
   1. i, is: taxi, pencil, free;
   2. us, one, ones: virus, bonus, album, albums;
   3. l, n, r, x, ps: incredible, useful, proton, electron, ether, martyr, chest, onyx, biceps, forceps;
   4. ã, ãs, ão, ás: magnet, orphan, magnets, orphans, blessing, organ, orphans, attics;
   5. oral diphthong, ascending or descending, followed or not by s: water, arduous, pony, volleyball, cavities, sorrows, ponies, jockeys;
   6. When the vowel of the hiatus is “i” or “u” tonics, accompanied or not by “s”, there will be accent: exit, chest, country.
3. oxytones – those ending in:
   1. a, as: Pará, vatapá, you are, you will go;
   2. e, es: you, coffee, Urupês, alligators;
   3. the, the: jiló, grandfather, retro, he supposed;
   4. em, ens: someone, Jeep, warehouses, congratulations.

The accentuation of verbs linked to oblique pronouns must follow the rules we saw earlier. However, it is necessary to apply a special rule that is assigned to these situations: only the verb form of the how we pronounce it should be taken into account, in this way, the pronouns to them will be disregarded associates. For example:

In cut it, consider color – ok (disregarding the oblique pronoun “lo”): Oxytone ending in a and, therefore, accented;

In include it, consider in – clu – í (disregarding the oblique pronoun “lo”): Stresses the tonic “u” and “i” of the hiatus when isolated in the syllable or accompanied by “s”;

Already in produce it, there is no accent, because pro - du - zi (neglecting the oblique pronoun “lo”) is an oxytone ending in i.

Now we know when verbs linked to oblique pronouns should or should not be accented, just pay attention to the accentuation rules of our Portuguese language.

Luana Alves
Graduated in Letters

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