Skip to main content
Languages
Assist With
Language
All languages
English
Italian
French
Portuguese
Chinese
Biblical Hebrew
▾
Sign in
Overview
Home
Words
Words
34
Rules / Grammar
Grammar
Lists
Lists
3
Lessons
Lessons
2
Read
Read
Topics
Topics
Library
Library
Preview
· Sample content. Practice here is not saved to your account.
· sample words, nothing saved
Sign in to save progress
Sign in
Match: Dom Casmurro 1–2: grammar in context
Back to list
Tap a word, then its meaning
0 of 4
End round
Esc
Completed events and narrative background
Em que links a place to its following clause
Future subjunctive for an open future condition
Attached object pronouns in literary Portuguese
Se não tiver outro ... uses tiver, future subjunctive of ter: if I do not find/have another title. Compare tenho (present indicative) and tivesse (imperfect subjunctive). The form is useful in ordinary Portuguese too: se tiver tempo, if I have time.
Comprimentou-me means greeted me; dando-lhe means giving it the same appearance, with lhe referring to the house. Older fil-a construir corresponds to modern fi-la construir, I had it built. In everyday Brazilian phrasing, mandei construir a casa is often easier to use.
Encontrei, fechei and acabou describe completed events; era and estava describe background or ongoing states. Notice the contrast between pretérito perfeito and imperfeito without translating every Spanish or French past tense mechanically.
A casa em que moro = the house in which I live. A casa em que me criei = the house where I grew up. The preposition em carries meaning, so keep it when explaining or rewriting the relative clause.
