Saturday, October 8, 2022

Personal Infinitive of Portuguese

The personal infinitive is a unique feature of Portuguese. It is not found in French, Italian or Spanish. However, it is also found in Galician, a closely related language.

With the first person plural, the personal infinitive suffix is -nos and with the third person plural, it is -em. The suffix attaches to the infinitive. Here are examples of how it is used:

Para chegarmos cedo, devemos ir agora. (To arrive early, we should go now.)
É importante nós falarmos com você hoje. (It is important for us to speak with you today.)

Para saberem mais, eles podem comprar o livro. (To know more, they can buy the book.)
É difícil eles encontrarem. (It's hard to find them.)

The Portuguese personal infinitive is a conjugated version of the infinitive. The suffix -mos is used with the first person plural, and the suffix -em is used with the third person plural. The suffix of the personal infinitive indicates the subject.

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