The Brazilian Portuguese personal infinitive is a form of the infinitive verb that takes a personal ending that agrees with a subject. Personal infinitives are used in cases where you need to use an infinitive, but you want it to have its own, independent subject:
If you would like to know more about how to form and use the personal infinitive in Brazilian Portuguese, stay tuned and continue reading this post!
How to form the personal infinitive?
The personal infinitive is formed by adding endings to the infinitive form of the verb that reflect which personal pronoun that would be the subject of the infinitive.
In Brazilian Portuguese, impersonal infinitives, verbs in their dictionary form, end in -ar, -er, -ir, or, in a few cases, they can also end with -or.
Impersonal Infinitives:
amar meaning to love
comer meaning to eat
abrir meaning to open
pôr meaning to put → repôr meaning to repose, compor meaning to compose, ...
To form the personal infinitive, you’ll add “personal” endings, reflecting the person and number of the subject, to the impersonal infinitive form.
| Subject pronouns | -ar verbs | -er verbs | -ir verbs | -or verbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
eu meaning I | falar | ser | ir | pôr |
tu meaning you | falares | seres | ires | pores |
| falar | ser | ir | pôr |
nós meaning we | falarmos | sermos | irmos | pormos |
vós meaning you, formal* | falardes | serdes | irdes | pordes |
| falarem | serem | irem | porem |
Notice that while the personal infinitive takes a special ending if the subject is tu / nós / vós / vocês / eles / elas, the form of the personal infinitive is identical to the impersonal infinitive if the subject is eu / ele / ela / você.
When using a personal infinitive form that does acquire a particular personal ending, the subject pronoun can be omitted. However, if using a personal infinitive that looks just like the impersonal infinitive, it is common sense to use the pronoun in front of them to avoid doubt with regard to the subject. Compare:
When to use the personal infinitive in Brazilian Portuguese?
The personal infinitive is used when an infinitive has its own subject that is different from the subject of the main clause. Personal infinitives are only used for unfinished actions and are most often found in subordinate clauses. For example:
Look at the difference in meaning between using the personal infinitive and the impersonal infinitive:
- impersonal infinitiveHelen preparou uma festa para comemorar a sua vitória.Translation: Helen prepared a party to celebrate her victory.Who is celebrating? We do not know exactly.
- impersonal infinitiveHelen preparou uma festa para nós comemorarmos a sua vitória.Translation: Helen prepared a party for us to celebrate her victory.Who is celebrating? Us!
In English, we show this difference only by adding “for” + subject before the infinitive, but the infinitive itself only has one form (“to” + verb). In Brazilian Portuguese, though, we change the form of the infinitive and that alone is sufficient to show the difference.
Now that we know the general rule of the personal infinitive, let’s move on to talk about some specific circumstances where it can also be used.
Using the personal infinitive after prepositions
The personal infinitive can be used in subordinate clauses that are introduced by prepositions and prepositional expressions like para meaning to, por meaning for, de meaning from/of, sem meaning without, depois de meaning after, antes de meaning before, em vez de meaning instead of, apesar de meaning instead of, and ao (a meaning to + o meaning the).
Using personal infinitives after impersonal expressions
The personal infinitive can also be used after impersonal expressions like é possível meaning it is possible, é impossível meaning it is possible, é fácil meaning it is easy, and é bom meaning it is good in order to specify, instead of generalizing, the subject of the action.
Using personal infinitive of the expression ‘ouvir dizer’ (to hear about)
We often use the personal infinitive in the expression ouvir dizer meaning to hear said. Follow this formula:
ouvir
present or preterite
dizer
personal infinitive
Although the personal infinitive dizerem refers to the third person plural eles, elas meaning they form, here it is used to express simply that the source was vague. You don’t have to have heard more than one person say it. Instead, it can be used in either of the following contexts:
I don’t know or don’t remember who I heard this information from
I know who I heard this information from, but I don't want to expose the source
The impersonal infinitive can also be used in the expression above. However, its use carries a more impersonal meaning and doesn’t express the idea of credibility with regard to the information as the personal infinitive does.
Personal infinitives vs. subordinate clauses
In most cases, you can replace a personal infinitive with a subordinate clause introduced by que meaning that. For example:
- personal infinitivepreterite indicative✅ Ouvi conversarem sobre o Paulo.
✅ Ouvi que conversaram sobre o Paulo.Translation: I heard that they were talking about Paul. - personal infinitivepresent subjunctive✅ É preciso ficarem em casa durante a tempestade.
✅ É preciso que fiquem em casa durante a tempestade.Translation: It is necessary that you stay indoors during the storm.
In everyday language, though, the personal infinitive is more commonly used than the subjunctive.
You can theoretically make this same exchange between a subordinate clause and the impersonal infinitive as well, however this produces a significant difference in meaning, because the impersonal infinitive is more generic than a conjugated verb. Compare:
- impersonal infinitiveÉ impossível dormir até mais tarde durante o verão.Translation: It is impossible to sleep till late during summer.The impersonal infinitive is generic
- present subjunctiveÉ impossível que durma até mais tarde durante o verão.Translation: It is impossible that he/she will sleep till late during summer.The conjugated verb implies a specific subject
When do the personal and impersonal infinitive have the same meaning?
The personal and impersonal infinitive are interchangeable in the following cases:
when the subject of the main clause and of the infinitive is the same
when the main clause contains some specific verbs, like mandar meaning to demand
Let’s take a look at each of them.
When the two clauses have the same subject
When the subject of the infinitive is the same as the subject of the main clause, the use of the personal infinitive is optional. Let’s take a look at the example below:
Eles pediram para participar da festa.
In both of the sentences above, the same people who asked the question would be attending the party, and so the impersonal and personal infinitives are interchangeable.
When the main clause contains some specific verbs
When the main clause contains the verbs mandar meaning to demand, fazer meaning to do, deixar meaning to leave, to drop off, to let go, ver meaning to see, or ouvir meaning to listen, the personal infinitive becomes optional in the subordinate clause. This is true even when the infinitive’s subject is different from the one in the main clause.
In this circumstance, you can choose to use the impersonal or the personal infinitive, with no difference in meaning:
- impersonal infinitivepersonal infinitiveVi os rapazes sair da sala.
Vi os rapazes saírem da sala.Translation: I saw the boys leaving the room.The subjects are different: eu meaning I vs. rapazes meaning boys, but the impersonal infinitive is permitted. - impersonal infinitivepersonal infinitiveOuvimos os cachorros latir.
Ouvimos os cachorros latirem.Translation: We heard the dogs bark.The subjects are different: nós meaning we vs. cachorros meaning dogs, but the impersonal infinitive is permitted.
When NOT to use the personal infinitive?
The personal infinitive should not be used with an imperative function, after certain prepositions, after the expressions fácil de, difícil de, and bom de, and when there is no reference to a subject. Let’s take a look.
In the imperative
The personal infinitive can not be used as an imperative (command). The impersonal infinitive can serve this function, but it should not be conjugated.
After certain prepositions
We saw above that you can use a personal infinitive in a subordinate clause that is introduced by a preposition like para meaning to, however the phrase that follows the preposition is not a subordinate clause, you should not be using a personal infinitive. There are two main cases when this is the case: within a preposition + infinitive complement or after a preposition following a verb in the passive voice.
Within a preposition + infinitive complement:
When using an infinitive after a preposition in a phrase that functions as the complement of a noun, adjective, adverb, or verb, use an impersonal infinitive, not a personal one:
- O chefe deu ao funcionário o direito de recusar a oferta.Translation: The boss gave the employee the right to refuse the offer.de recusar a oferta is the complement of direto.
- Regina convenceu os alunos a entregar os trabalhos esta semana.Translation: Regina convinced the students to turn in their work this week.a entregar os trabalhos is the complement of convenceu
Check out this chart with more expressions with preposition + infinitive complements.
After a preposition that follows a passive verb:
If a preposition follows a verb in the passive voice, you can use an impersonal infinitive, but you should not use a personal infinitive.
passive verbimpersonal infinitiveOs livros foram feitos para entreter as crianças.Translation: The books were made to entertain the kids.
After ‘fácil de,’ ‘difícil de,’ and ‘bom de’
The personal infinitive should not be used to make general statements in which a noun is described using a phrase like fácil de meaning easy to + infinitive, difícil de meaning difficult to + infinitive, or bom de meaning good to + infinitive. We most often use these phrases to describe the object of the infinitive.
- Esses são trabalhos difíceis de fazer.Translation: These are difficult jobs to do.Trabalhos is understood to be the object of fazer: Someone does the jobs.
- Aquelas foram situações fáceis de entender.Translation: Those were easy situations to understand.Situações is understood to be the object of entender: Someone understands the situations.
Because the word described by the bold phrases above is understood to be the object of the infinitive, it would not make sense to use a personal infinitive, which marks the features of the infinitive’s subject.
When the infinitive has no subject
The personal infinitive should not be used when there is no reference to a subject.
What is a compound personal infinitive?
A compound personal infinitive is a type of personal infinitive that is used in the same circumstances as the simple form, though we use this form only to describe an action that is or will be finished before the main action of a sentence. It is parallel to English constructions like, “for him to have slept” or “for them to have forgotten.”
The compound form of a personal infinitive is formed by combining the personal infinitive form of the auxiliary ter meaning to have with the past participle of the main verb, as in:
ter
personal infinitive
past participle
Here are some more examples in which a compound personal infinitive is used:
Summary
In this post, we saw that:
The personal infinitive is a very special feature in Brazilian Portuguese, and that it takes on endings depending on person and number of the subject.
Personal infinitives most often occur in subordinate clauses.
Using the personal infinitive is mandatory when its subject of the infinitive is different from the subject of the main clause.
The compound form for the personal infinitive expresses a concluded fact in the past or future actions that will be completed in relation to other actions also in the future.
Now, why don’t you practice forming and using the personal infinitive in Brazilian Portuguese with our activities?
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