Personal infinitive in Brazilian Portuguese

The personal infinitive

• infinitivo pessoal🔊personal infinitive

Personal infinitive endings

A subject recoverable from context

para infinitivo pessoal com sujeito recuperável

• Precisamos de mais tempo pra fazermos isso direito.🔊

  We need more time to do this properly.

An explicit subject after a preposition

antes de sujeito explícito infinitivo pessoal

• Vou fechar a loja antes de eles chegarem.🔊

  I'll close the shop before they arrive.

• Deixei comida pra eles terem alguma coisa pra comer.🔊

  I left some food so they could have something to eat.

When the subject is shared

When the same person does both actions, Brazilian Portuguese often uses the plain infinitive, as in “A gente saiu cedo pra chegar antes do meio-dia.” English also leaves the infinitive unchanged. The card “Precisamos de mais tempo pra fazermos isso direito” has the same subject for both verbs; the -mos ending is possible here, but it does not show a change of subject. To make that change clear, compare “Precisamos de mais tempo pra eles fazerem isso direito”: nós need more time, and eles will do the work.

• A gente saiu cedo pra chegar antes do meio-dia.🔊

  We left early to arrive before noon.

• Precisamos de mais tempo pra fazermos isso direito.🔊

  We need more time to do this properly.

After a modal or auxiliary

After a modal such as poder or the auxiliary ir expressing a future action, use the plain infinitive: “A gente pode fazer isso amanhã” and “Eles vão almoçar aqui.” The auxiliary carries person and number, so the following verb stays unchanged. English likewise leaves the following verb unchanged in “We can do this tomorrow” and “They are going to have lunch here,” although English auxiliaries show much less person and number agreement. Other constructions can allow a personal infinitive, so this is not a rule for every auxiliary.

• A gente pode fazer isso amanhã.🔊

  We can do this tomorrow.

• Eles vão almoçar aqui.🔊

  They are going to have lunch here.

Personal infinitive or future subjunctive?

After a preposition such as para or its conversational form pra, an infinitive can have its own subject. With an explicit plural subject, it takes the corresponding personal ending: “Trouxe as ferramentas pra eles fazerem os consertos.” The -em ending agrees with eles; in “Deixei comida pra eles terem alguma coisa pra comer,” terem is likewise a personal infinitive. A recoverable subject can also be expressed by an ending, as in fazermos, but an understood subject does not always require an inflected infinitive; with a shared subject, the plain infinitive is often possible.

In temporal clauses introduced by quando and conditional clauses introduced by se that refer to a future eventuality, use the future subjunctive: “Quando eles fizerem os consertos, a cozinha vai ficar pronta” and “Se eles tiverem tempo amanhã, vão ajudar a gente.” Notice the changed stems fizer- and tiver-; the personal infinitives are fazerem and terem.

• Deixei comida pra eles terem alguma coisa pra comer.🔊

  I left some food so they could have something to eat.

• Trouxe as ferramentas pra eles fazerem os consertos.🔊

  I brought the tools for them to do the repairs.

• Quando eles fizerem os consertos, a cozinha vai ficar pronta.🔊

  When they do the repairs, the kitchen will be ready.

• Se eles tiverem tempo amanhã, vão ajudar a gente.🔊

  If they have time tomorrow, they'll help us.