Brazilian legalese — juridiquês — is a register frozen in time. It preserves grammatical forms that are dead or dying everywhere else: the future subjunctive alive and obligatory in caso and quando clauses, archaic connectives like outrossim and destarte, heavy nominalization, agentless passives, and fixed Latinate formulae (o presente instrumento, para os devidos fins). Where literary prose conserves old forms for elegance, the law conserves them for safety: precision, tradition, and the fear that any modernization might open a loophole. The text below is an original contract clause written to display these features; reading it is a distinct C1 challenge because the grammar is formulaic and conservative rather than expressive.
The text
An original excerpt from a fictitious service contract (contrato de prestação de serviços).
Pelo presente instrumento particular, as partes acima qualificadas têm, entre si, justo e contratado o quanto segue.
By the present private instrument, the parties identified above have, between themselves, duly agreed and contracted the following.
Cláusula Primeira — A CONTRATADA obriga-se a prestar os serviços descritos no Anexo I, observadas as condições aqui estabelecidas.
Clause One — The Contracted Party undertakes to provide the services described in Annex I, the conditions established herein being observed.
Caso a CONTRATANTE deixar de efetuar o pagamento no prazo avençado, incidirão juros de mora de 1% (um por cento) ao mês.
Should the Contracting Party fail to make payment within the agreed term, default interest of 1% (one percent) per month shall accrue.
Quando houver necessidade de prorrogação, esta deverá ser formalizada por escrito, mediante termo aditivo.
When there is a need for an extension, it shall be formalized in writing, by means of an amendment.
Outrossim, fica eleito o foro da Comarca de São Paulo para dirimir quaisquer controvérsias oriundas do presente contrato.
Furthermore, the jurisdiction of the District of São Paulo is hereby elected to settle any disputes arising from the present contract.
E, por estarem assim justas e contratadas, as partes firmam o presente, para que produza seus jurídicos e legais efeitos.
And, being thus duly agreed and contracted, the parties sign the present [instrument], so that it may produce its juridical and legal effects.
Every line is built from formulae a Brazilian lawyer can recite by heart — and that no Brazilian uses at the dinner table.
The future subjunctive: alive in 'caso' and 'quando'
The signature feature of juridiquês is the future subjunctive (futuro do subjuntivo), a tense that survives robustly in legal and contractual prose. Look at Quando houver necessidade (when there is a need) and the conditional Caso... deixar de efetuar (should [it] fail to make). The future subjunctive expresses a condition projected into the future that is not yet a fact — exactly the realm of contracts, which legislate for hypothetical futures.
Quando houver necessidade de prorrogação...
When there is a need for an extension... (houver = future subjunctive of haver)
Caso a CONTRATANTE deixar de pagar, incidirão juros.
Should the Contracting Party fail to pay, interest shall accrue. (deixar = future subjunctive)
Quem chegar primeiro assinará o termo.
Whoever arrives first shall sign the document. (chegar = future subjunctive)
English has no dedicated future subjunctive; it uses the present ("when there is a need," "should they fail") or modal periphrasis ("whoever arrives"). Portuguese marks it morphologically: the future subjunctive is built from the third-person plural preterite minus -am (houveram → houver, deixaram → deixar, chegaram → chegar). For regular verbs it looks identical to the personal infinitive, but the trigger is what matters: after caso, quando, se, enquanto, assim que, and the relative quem/o que pointing at a future event, Portuguese demands it.
Archaic connectives: outrossim, destarte, mediante
Legal Portuguese keeps a cabinet of connectives that have vanished from ordinary speech. Outrossim (furthermore, likewise) is perhaps the most emblematic — no living Brazilian says it conversationally, yet it opens countless contract clauses. Its cousins include destarte (thus, in this way), outrossim, conquanto (although), and mormente (especially).
Outrossim, fica eleito o foro da Comarca de São Paulo.
Furthermore, the jurisdiction of São Paulo is hereby elected. (outrossim = 'além disso', archaic outside law)
Destarte, restam cumpridas todas as obrigações contratuais.
Thus, all contractual obligations are fulfilled. (destarte = 'desta forma', archaic/literary)
A prorrogação deverá ser formalizada mediante termo aditivo.
The extension shall be formalized by means of an amendment. (mediante = 'por meio de', formal)
In plain modern Portuguese these would be além disso (furthermore), desta forma (thus), and por meio de (by means of). Recognizing the archaic equivalents is essential to reading any contract, statute, or court ruling.
Nominalization and the formulaic phrase
Legal prose nominalizes relentlessly, turning verbs and processes into nouns: prestação de serviços (provision of services, not "providing services"), prorrogação (extension), pagamento (payment), controvérsias oriundas do contrato (disputes arising from the contract). This abstraction makes the language dense but precise.
Pelo presente instrumento particular...
By the present private instrument... ('o presente instrumento' = this document, a fixed legal formula)
...para que produza seus jurídicos e legais efeitos.
...so that it may produce its juridical and legal effects. (a closing formula, with stylistic inversion of adjective order)
Note o presente instrumento / o presente contrato — "the present [document]," a formula meaning simply "this document." The adjective presente before the noun, and the placing of two adjectives before efeitos in seus jurídicos e legais efeitos, are deliberate formal inversions; ordinary Portuguese would say este contrato and seus efeitos jurídicos e legais.
Passive and impersonal: hiding the agent
The law loves to state obligations without naming who imposes them, achieved through passive and impersonal constructions. Fica eleito o foro ("the jurisdiction is hereby elected") and fica formalizada use ficar + participle, a passive-resultative beloved in contracts. The reflexive-passive appears in obriga-se a prestar (undertakes / binds itself to provide), and the agentless observadas as condições is an absolute participial construction ("the conditions being observed").
A CONTRATADA obriga-se a prestar os serviços.
The Contracted Party undertakes to provide the services. (obriga-se = reflexive/passive 'binds itself')
Fica eleito o foro da Comarca de São Paulo.
The jurisdiction of São Paulo is hereby elected. (ficar + participle = resultative passive, no agent)
Observadas as condições aqui estabelecidas...
The conditions established herein being observed... (absolute participial clause, agentless)
The future of obligation: deverá, incidirão
Legal Portuguese uses the simple future (rather than the spoken ir + infinitive) to express obligation and consequence: incidirão juros (interest shall accrue), deverá ser formalizada (shall be formalized), firmam o presente (the parties sign — present with future force). The simple future here is not prediction but prescription — the "shall" of English legal drafting.
Incidirão juros de mora de 1% ao mês.
Default interest of 1% per month shall accrue. (simple future = prescriptive 'shall')
A prorrogação deverá ser formalizada por escrito.
The extension shall be formalized in writing. (deverá = obligation, not mere prediction)
In everyday Brazilian speech, vai incidir and vai ter que ser would replace these. The synthetic future is itself a register marker, characteristic of writing and formal prescription.
Vocabulary and expressions
- o presente instrumento / contrato — "this document" (fixed formula).
- as partes — the parties; CONTRATANTE (the one who hires) vs CONTRATADA (the one hired).
- prazo — term, deadline; avençado — agreed (formal/legal for acordado).
- juros de mora — default/late-payment interest; mora — legal delay.
- foro / Comarca — jurisdiction / judicial district; dirimir controvérsias — to settle disputes.
- termo aditivo — amendment, addendum (to a contract).
- para os devidos fins / para que produza seus jurídicos e legais efeitos — closing formulae certifying legal validity.
- justo e contratado — "duly agreed and contracted," an archaic doublet formula.
Register and cultural note
Juridiquês is so notoriously impenetrable that Brazil's own judiciary launched campaigns for linguagem simples (plain language) to make rulings comprehensible to ordinary citizens. Yet the conservative register persists, because lawyers fear that simplifying a formula could change its legal meaning or create ambiguity an opposing party might exploit. The result is a living museum of the language: the future subjunctive after caso/quando, the connectives outrossim and destarte, the formula o presente instrumento — all preserved by formulaic conservatism. For the C1 reader, decoding a contract or statute is less about expressive nuance (as with Clarice or Machado) and more about recognizing a fixed inventory of forms and translating them into plain Portuguese.
Common Mistakes
❌ Reading 'Caso a CONTRATANTE deixar' as present indicative 'deixar'.
Trap — 'deixar' here is the future subjunctive after 'caso', not an infinitive or present.
✅ 'Caso... deixar de pagar' = 'Should [it] fail to pay'.
Future subjunctive: a projected, not-yet-real condition.
❌ Using 'outrossim' or 'destarte' in everyday speech.
Register error — these are archaic legal connectives, dead in conversation.
✅ In speech use 'além disso' (furthermore) and 'desta forma' (thus).
The archaic connectives belong only to formal/legal writing.
❌ Looking for a subject in 'Fica eleito o foro' and not finding the 'electors'.
Trap — this is an agentless passive; no doer is named on purpose.
✅ 'Fica eleito o foro' = 'The jurisdiction is hereby elected' — agent suppressed.
Legalese hides the agent to sound objective.
❌ Pairing 'caso' with the future subjunctive in standard modern writing.
Note — outside juridical style, 'caso' takes the PRESENT subjunctive: 'caso deixe'.
✅ Modern standard: 'caso deixe de pagar'; legal style: 'caso deixar de pagar'.
The future-subjunctive-after-caso is itself a legal-register marker.
❌ Reading 'incidirão juros' as a prediction ('interest will probably accrue').
Trap — the simple future here is prescriptive 'shall', a binding obligation.
✅ 'incidirão juros' = 'interest SHALL accrue' (a rule, not a guess).
The synthetic future expresses legal obligation.
Key takeaways
- The future subjunctive (houver, deixar, chegar) is alive and obligatory in legal caso/quando/se clauses.
- Archaic connectives — outrossim, destarte, mediante, conquanto — survive only in this register.
- Nominalization and fixed formulae (o presente instrumento, para os devidos fins) make the prose dense and precise.
- Passive and impersonal grammar (fica eleito, obriga-se, observadas as condições) suppresses the agent.
- The simple future (incidirão, deverá) is prescriptive "shall," not prediction — a register marker.
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Start learning Portuguese→Related Topics
- Futuro do Subjuntivo: UsageA2 — When to use the future subjunctive in Brazilian Portuguese — the obligatory form after 'quando', 'se', 'enquanto', 'assim que' and other time conjunctions pointing to the future.
- Passive SentencesB1 — Building passive sentences in Brazilian Portuguese — the ser-passive with 'por', the se-passive for agentless statements, and why everyday speech prefers active recasts.
- Impersonal SentencesB1 — Subjectless sentences in Brazilian Portuguese — weather, time, existence, and the se / 3rd-person-plural / a-gente generics, none of which use a dummy 'it'.
- Nominalization: Turning Verbs/Adjectives into NounsB2 — How Brazilian Portuguese builds nouns from verbs and adjectives with suffixes like -ção, -mento, -dade — the engine of formal and academic register.
- Formal RegisterB2 — How Brazilian Portuguese stacks up formality — o senhor/a senhora address, enclisis, erudite vocabulary, impersonal constructions, and set formulas for contracts, courtrooms, and ceremony.
- Formal Connectors for WritingB2 — The high-formal stratum of Brazilian Portuguese connectors — outrossim, ademais, não obstante, doravante, por conseguinte — that lives in legal and academic prose, when they fit, and when they just sound pompous.