Extraposition: Postponing the Subject | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

When the subject of a sentence is a heavy chunk — a whole infinitive phrase or a que-clause — Portuguese prefers to move it to the end and start the sentence with the verb. So instead of Estudar é importante ("Studying is important"), the far more natural É importante estudar. This shifting of a clausal subject to the end is called extraposition, and the headline fact for English speakers is that Portuguese does it with no dummy "it" — the verb é simply stands alone at the front. Getting comfortable with this is essential, because the alternative (calquing English "It is...") produces a persistent, telltale error.

The basic move

A clausal subject is awkward sitting in the front position because it is long and the listener has to hold it open until the predicate arrives. Extraposition solves this by fronting the predicate and letting the heavy clause come last:

É importante estudar todos os dias.

It's important to study every day.

É difícil aprender chinês sem praticar.

It's hard to learn Chinese without practicing.

Foi ótimo te ver de novo.

It was great to see you again.

In all three, the subject is the infinitive phrase (estudar todos os dias, aprender chinês..., te ver de novo), and it has been pushed to the end. The verb é/foi opens the sentence with nothing in front of it.

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The reason there is no word for "it" is that Portuguese is a null-subject language: it can leave the subject position empty and let the verb ending carry the information. The third-person é is all you need. English, by contrast, requires a filler in the subject slot, so it inserts the placeholder "it." That "it" is a quirk of English, not a universal — don't translate it.

Que-clause subjects

The same logic applies when the subject is a que-clause. Que ele mentiu é óbvio is grammatical but stilted; the everyday form extraposes:

É óbvio que ele mentiu.

It's obvious that he lied.

É verdade que os preços subiram muito.

It's true that prices went up a lot.

Foi uma pena que você não pôde vir.

It was a shame you couldn't come.

Whether the extraposed que-clause takes the indicative or the subjunctive depends on the predicate's meaning — é óbvio que ele mentiu (indicative, a stated fact) versus é importante que ele venha (subjunctive, a desired/uncertain event). That choice is governed by the matrix predicate, not by extraposition itself; see noun complement clauses for the full picture.

É importante que todos cheguem no horário.

It's important that everyone arrives on time. (subjunctive 'cheguem')

Extraposition with personal infinitive

Portuguese has a tool English lacks: the personal (inflected) infinitive, which carries person endings. When the extraposed infinitive has its own subject, BR often inflects it, making the subject explicit without a full que-clause:

É melhor esperarmos mais um pouco.

It's better for us to wait a bit longer. (personal infinitive 'esperarmos')

Foi difícil aceitarem a derrota.

It was hard for them to accept the defeat.

This is more compact than the que-clause equivalent (É melhor que a gente espere) and very characteristic of polished Portuguese. See personal infinitive in noun clauses for when to inflect.

The "parece / acontece / é que" framings

A whole family of common openers exists precisely to extrapose a que-clause. These verbs and phrases front the matrix and let the real content follow in a que-clause:

Framing	Meaning	Example
Parece que...	It seems that...	Parece que vai chover.
Acontece que...	It (so) happens that...	Acontece que eu já tinha visto o filme.
É que...	The thing is.../It's just that...	É que eu não tinha entendido a pergunta.
Pode ser que...	It may be that...	Pode ser que ele esqueça.
Consta que...	It's reported that...	Consta que houve fraude. (formal)

Parece que vai chover, melhor levar guarda-chuva.

It looks like it's going to rain — better take an umbrella.

Não vou poder ir. É que eu tô sem carro essa semana.

I won't be able to go. The thing is, I don't have a car this week. (informal)

The É que... framing deserves special attention: it is enormously frequent in spoken BR as a softener that introduces an explanation or excuse. There is no neat English equivalent — "The thing is..." or "It's just that..." come closest.

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É que... is the spoken Brazilian's go-to way to preface a reason or excuse. É que eu esqueci, é que tava tarde. Learn to deploy it and your speech will instantly sound more native — it cushions the explanation that follows.

Extraposition vs. cleft "é ... que"

Be careful not to confuse the extraposing É que... with the focusing é ... que cleft. They look similar but do opposite work:

É que eu não vi a mensagem.

The thing is, I didn't see the message. (extraposition — introduces a reason)

Foi ontem que eu vi a mensagem.

It was yesterday that I saw the message. (cleft — focuses 'ontem')

In the extraposition framing, É que introduces an entire explanatory clause and emphasizes nothing in particular. In the cleft, é ... que wraps around a specific element (ontem) and spotlights it. The cleft has a focused word sandwiched between é and que; the extraposition framing has é and que sitting right next to each other. See cleft sentences for the contrast in detail.

When to keep the subject up front

Extraposition is the default for heavy clausal subjects, but you can keep a fronted subject when you want to topicalize it — to make the clause itself the thing the sentence is "about":

Aprender chinês não é fácil, mas vale a pena.

Learning Chinese isn't easy, but it's worth it. (fronted to make it the topic)

Here the speaker is commenting on learning Chinese, so the infinitive earns its front position. The rule of thumb: extrapose by default, front the clause only when it is the established topic of the discussion.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ele é importante estudar.

Incorrect — 'ele' is a dummy 'it' calqued from English; Portuguese uses no subject pronoun.

✅ É importante estudar.

It's important to study.

❌ Isso é óbvio que ele mentiu.

Incorrect — no placeholder 'isso' before the extraposed clause.

✅ É óbvio que ele mentiu.

It's obvious that he lied.

❌ Parece como vai chover.

Incorrect — 'parece' takes 'que', not 'como', to introduce the clause.

✅ Parece que vai chover.

It looks like it's going to rain.

❌ É importante que todos chegam no horário.

Incorrect — 'é importante que' triggers the subjunctive: 'cheguem'.

✅ É importante que todos cheguem no horário.

It's important that everyone arrives on time.

By far the most common error is the English-driven dummy subject — ele/isso/aquilo é importante.... Whenever you would say "It is..." in English, in Portuguese just start with the verb: É....

Key Takeaways

Move heavy clausal subjects to the end and start with the verb: É importante estudar.
Portuguese uses no dummy "it" — é stands alone. This is the number-one transfer error to kill.
Extraposed que-clauses take indicative or subjunctive depending on the matrix predicate.
The personal infinitive lets an extraposed infinitive show its own subject: É melhor esperarmos.
Parece que, Acontece que, and especially É que are everyday extraposition framings; don't confuse É que (explanation) with the focusing é ... que cleft.

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