A pseudo-cleft sentence (frase pseudo-clivada) is a second family of focusing construction in Portuguese. Where the ordinary cleft (é que) splits a neutral sentence horizontally — placing ser + focused element + que + rest — the pseudo-cleft rebuilds the sentence from the ground up around a free relative clause: o que eu quero é descansar (what I want is to rest), quem chegou primeiro foi o João (the one who arrived first was João). The free relative sits on one side of the copula, and the focused element sits on the other. The effect is the same — spotlighting one piece of information — but the grammatical architecture is completely different, and so are the pragmatic uses.
English has a direct equivalent of every Portuguese pseudo-cleft (what I want is…, the one who…, where I live is…), so the construction feels immediately familiar. What trips up English speakers is everything else: which relative pronoun to choose, which tense ser takes, where the verb of the matrix clause ends up, and how the pseudo-cleft interacts with subjunctive triggers. This page works through all of it and contrasts the pseudo-cleft with the ordinary é que cleft so you know which construction to reach for in a given situation.
The basic template
Every pseudo-cleft follows a two-part structure built around ser:
[free relative clause] + ser + [focused element]
or the mirror order:
[focused element] + ser + [free relative clause]
The free relative is a relative clause with no external antecedent — the relative pronoun itself (o que, quem, onde, como, quando) supplies the head. The ser copula links the free relative to the focused element, which is what the listener is being asked to pay attention to.
Compare:
Eu quero descansar. — neutral (I want to rest.) O que eu quero é descansar. — pseudo-cleft (What I want is to rest.) É descansar que eu quero. — ordinary cleft (It's to rest that I want.)
All three sentences are roughly synonymous. The neutral version simply states the fact. The pseudo-cleft sets up the focus by first announcing its category (what I want) and then delivering the content (to rest) — this builds a tiny amount of suspense and makes the focus maximally prominent. The ordinary cleft, by contrast, puts the focus in front and the presupposition behind, which is more abrupt and is typically used to correct a wrong assumption rather than to announce information neutrally.
O que eu quero é descansar.
What I want is to rest.
Quem chegou primeiro foi o João.
The one who arrived first was João.
O que importa é a saúde.
What matters is your health.
Onde nós vivemos é em Sintra.
Where we live is in Sintra.
Como ele resolveu o problema foi com muita paciência.
How he solved the problem was with a lot of patience.
The free relative pronouns
The pseudo-cleft relies on a small set of free relatives. Each one picks out a different semantic category:
| Pronoun | Picks out | Example |
|---|---|---|
| o que | things, events, content of an action | O que eu disse foi a verdade. (What I said was the truth.) |
| quem | people | Quem ligou foi a tua mãe. (The one who called was your mother.) |
| onde | places | Onde nos conhecemos foi no Porto. (Where we met was in Porto.) |
| como | manner | Como ele fala é devagar. (How he speaks is slowly.) |
| quando | time | Quando ela voltou foi em maio. (When she came back was in May.) — rarer |
| o motivo por que / a razão por que | reason | A razão por que ele saiu foi o barulho. (The reason he left was the noise.) |
The workhorses are o que and quem. Onde and como are common but narrower; quando is marginal because speakers usually prefer an ordinary cleft (foi em Maio que ela voltou) for focusing on a time expression. The reason pseudo-cleft (a razão por que…) is characteristic of written, argumentative prose.
O que eu quero agora é um café bem forte.
What I want right now is a really strong coffee.
Quem me avisou foi a tua irmã — ela viu tudo.
The one who warned me was your sister — she saw everything.
Onde eu guardo os documentos é naquela gaveta.
Where I keep the documents is in that drawer.
Como conseguimos terminar a tempo foi trabalhando até às três da manhã.
How we managed to finish on time was by working until three in the morning.
Agreement and tense of ser
The copula in a pseudo-cleft is not frozen as é. It agrees in tense, person, and number with the focused element on the other side of the equation. This is the most common source of errors for English speakers, because English is is happy to stay singular even when the focus is plural (what I want are the books sounds stiff in English, but the Portuguese equivalent must agree).
Tense agreement
The tense of ser normally tracks the tense of the verb inside the free relative clause. If the action is past, ser is past; if it is present, ser is present; if it is future, ser is future.
O que eu queria era um sofá novo.
What I wanted was a new sofa. (past imperfect matches past imperfect)
Quem me ajudou foi o vizinho do lado.
The one who helped me was the neighbour next door. (preterite matches preterite)
O que vamos fazer será decidido amanhã.
What we are going to do will be decided tomorrow. (future matches future)
O que eu tinha prometido era dinheiro, não promessas.
What I had promised was money, not promises. (pluperfect matches imperfect — prior time)
Speakers sometimes freeze ser as é even with a past-tense relative clause, especially when the state described is still true: o que eu queria é paz (what I wanted is peace). This is acceptable informally, but in careful speech and writing the tenses match.
Person and number agreement
Ser agrees in number with the focused element. A plural focus triggers são / foram / serão, never é / foi / será.
O que falta são boas ideias.
What's missing are good ideas.
Quem venceu as eleições foram os socialistas.
The ones who won the elections were the Socialists.
O que mais me irritou foram os comentários dele.
What irritated me most were his comments.
Inside the free relative clause, the verb stays singular (agreeing with o que or quem as a grammatically singular head), while ser on the other side of the copula is plural to match the focused element. In spoken EP you will hear attracted plurals inside the relative too (o que faltam são boas ideias, quem venceram foram os socialistas), but careful writing keeps the split: singular inside the relative, plural on ser.
Ser also agrees in person when the focus is a first- or second-person pronoun — but this is stylistically marked and almost always avoided. Instead of saying quem sou eu é o culpado (awkward), speakers restructure as o culpado sou eu (the mirror word order) or drop the pseudo-cleft entirely.
Fronting vs. mirror order
Portuguese pseudo-clefts allow both orders freely:
O que eu quero é café. — free relative first (the announcing order) Café é o que eu quero. — focus first (the mirror order, more emphatic)
In the announcing order (relative first), the speaker leads the listener into the focus by first naming its category. This is the unmarked, conversational order and is what English naturally uses too (what I want is…).
In the mirror order (focus first), the emphasis lands harder on the focused element, which now sits at the beginning of the sentence with the relative acting almost as a delayed afterthought or justification. This order is much more common when the focused element is a short, weighty noun or pronoun.
Amor é o que falta neste mundo.
Love is what's missing in this world.
A Maria é quem decide aqui.
Maria is the one who decides here.
Em Lisboa é onde eu me sinto em casa.
Lisbon is where I feel at home.
The mirror order is frequent in slogans, titles, and proverbial phrasing. The announcing order is frequent in spontaneous speech.
Infinitive vs. finite complement after ser
A distinctive feature of Portuguese pseudo-clefts is that the focused element after ser can be a bare infinitive when the action described by the relative clause is something the subject does:
O que ele adora é cozinhar.
What he loves is cooking.
O que tu precisas é de dormir mais.
What you need is to sleep more.
O que me falta é ter tempo.
What I'm missing is having the time.
In English the infinitive here often alternates with a gerund (what he loves is to cook ~ what he loves is cooking). Portuguese almost always uses the infinitive in this slot; the gerund sounds wrong. If the verb in the free relative governs a preposition (precisar de, gostar de), that preposition can reappear attached to the infinitive on the other side, as in o que tu precisas é *de dormir*, though modern usage often drops it.
The focused element can also be a full finite clause:
O que me chateia é que ninguém avisou.
What annoys me is that no one warned us.
O que eu quero é que fiques em casa.
What I want is for you to stay home.
Notice the subjunctive in the second example: o que eu quero é que fiques. The pseudo-cleft preserves the same subjunctive triggers as the equivalent non-clefted sentence (quero que fiques). Clefting never cancels the subjunctive — whatever the matrix verb would have required, it still requires.
Pseudo-cleft vs. ordinary cleft (é que)
The two constructions compete for the same territory but differ in syntax and function. Here is the minimal comparison:
| Feature | Pseudo-cleft | Ordinary cleft (é que) |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Free relative + ser + focus | Ser
|
| Example | O que eu quero é descansar. | É descansar que eu quero. |
| Primary function | Introduce / announce new information | Correct or contrast |
| Register | Slightly more formal / deliberate | Extremely frequent in speech |
| Builds suspense? | Yes — focus delivered late | No — focus up front |
| Focus types | Nouns, verbs, whole clauses | Any constituent, including adverbs |
A practical test: if you can paraphrase the English original with "what X verbs is Y" or "the one who verbs is Y", use a pseudo-cleft. If the English is "it was Y that…", use an ordinary cleft. Native speakers also mix both — o que é que eu quero é descansar piles a pseudo-cleft on top of an ordinary cleft — but this is flamboyant and should be used sparingly.
O que me aconteceu foi isto: perdi o comboio.
What happened to me was this: I missed the train. (announcing — pseudo-cleft)
Foi o comboio que eu perdi, não o autocarro.
It was the train I missed, not the bus. (correcting — ordinary cleft)
Pseudo-clefts with negation and questions
The pseudo-cleft can be negated on either side of ser, but the two negations have different scopes:
O que eu *não quero é café. — I want something; what I don't want is coffee. O que eu quero **não é café.* — I want something, and that something is not coffee.
The first negates the verb inside the free relative (não quero); the second negates the identification (não é café). Both are grammatical; the second is rarer and more emphatic.
O que eu não posso é ficar aqui a perder tempo.
What I can't do is sit around wasting time.
Quem eu não suporto é aquele tipo do escritório ao lado.
The one I can't stand is that guy from the office next door.
Questions with pseudo-clefts exist but are unusual. Speakers normally prefer o que é que (ordinary cleft with a wh-word) for wh-questions: o que é que tu queres? (what do you want?). The pseudo-cleft question o que tu queres é o quê? is grammatical but sounds like a demand for clarification, almost a challenge.
Pseudo-clefts with identificational meaning
A special subtype uses ser to identify one entity with another, where both sides of the copula are definite noun phrases. English often uses the same structure:
O culpado de tudo isto és tu.
The one to blame for all this is you.
O problema é que ninguém me disse nada.
The problem is that nobody told me anything.
A verdade é que eu já estava farto.
The truth is that I was already fed up.
These are technically pseudo-clefts where the free relative has collapsed into a definite noun phrase (o culpado, o problema, a verdade). They are extremely frequent in speech and writing and follow the same agreement rules as canonical pseudo-clefts.
O meu maior medo é ficar sozinha na velhice.
My biggest fear is growing old alone.
A questão são os custos, não o prazo.
The issue is the costs, not the deadline. (note plural agreement with custos)
Common Mistakes
❌ O que eu quero é são férias.
Incorrect — ser cannot appear twice; drop the second one.
✅ O que eu quero são férias.
What I want is a holiday.
❌ O que ele fez é mentir.
Incorrect — if the action in the free relative is in the past, ser must be past too.
✅ O que ele fez foi mentir.
What he did was lie.
❌ O que são problemas é os preços.
Incorrect — agreement goes with the focused element (os preços), and the free relative clause uses third singular.
✅ O que é um problema são os preços.
What's a problem is the prices.
❌ Quem chegou primeiro é o João, ontem.
Incorrect — with a past-time adverb the copula should also be past.
✅ Quem chegou primeiro foi o João, ontem.
The one who arrived first was João, yesterday.
❌ O que eu quero é que tu vens cedo.
Incorrect — querer triggers the subjunctive inside the embedded clause.
✅ O que eu quero é que tu venhas cedo.
What I want is for you to come early.
❌ O que ele adora é cozinhando.
Incorrect — after ser in a pseudo-cleft, use the infinitive, not the gerund.
✅ O que ele adora é cozinhar.
What he loves is cooking.
Key takeaways
- Pseudo-clefts split a sentence into a free relative (on one side of ser) and a focused element (on the other).
- The main free relatives are o que (things), quem (people), onde (places), como (manner).
- Ser is not frozen — it agrees in tense and number with the focused element, not with eu or the subject of the relative clause.
- Pseudo-clefts announce new information; ordinary clefts (é que) correct wrong assumptions.
- After ser in a pseudo-cleft, a verb is realised as a bare infinitive (o que ele adora é cozinhar), never a gerund.
- Clefting does not cancel the subjunctive — querer que, duvidar que, and the other triggers keep their force.
Related Topics
- Cleft Sentences (É Que)B1 — Splitting a sentence to spotlight one element — é que, foi que, é o que, pseudo-clefts, and the colloquial que é inversion.
- Nominalization (Verbs and Adjectives to Nouns)B2 — Building nouns from verbs and adjectives — the productive suffixes of Portuguese and how to use them.
- Topicalization (Fronting for Emphasis)B2 — Moving an element to the front of the sentence for emphasis, often marked by a resumptive clitic pronoun.
- Relative Clauses OverviewA2 — How relative clauses work in European Portuguese — que, quem, o qual, cujo, onde, and the restrictive vs non-restrictive distinction.
- Relative Pronoun Que (The Most Common)A2 — The workhorse relative pronoun of Portuguese — used for people, things, and concepts, as subject or direct object of the relative clause
- Relative Pronoun Quem (Referring to People)B1 — The relative pronoun used specifically for people — mostly after prepositions or as a free relative meaning 'whoever'