Sentence Combining Strategies

A fluent speaker does not say Cheguei cedo. Estava cansado. Decidi ir para casa. A fluent speaker says Como cheguei cedo e estava cansado, decidi ir para casa — or Tendo chegado cedo e cansado, decidi ir para casa — or even Cheguei cedo e, cansado, decidi ir para casa. The same three facts can be welded into one sentence in half a dozen ways, each with its own rhythm, its own register, and its own emphasis. Mastering sentence combining — the art of joining propositions into longer, more articulated wholes — is what separates B2 Portuguese from C1 Portuguese.

This page is a synthesis. The individual tools have their own pages: Compound Sentences, Complex Sentences, Focus and Emphasis, and so on. What this page does is show them working together: how a native writer or speaker chooses among coordination, subordination, reduction, and nominalisation to express a set of ideas with the right weight and flow.

The three basic moves

Every sentence combining operation falls into one of three families:

1. Coordination. Two or more clauses joined as grammatical equals, linked by e, mas, ou, pois, portanto, ou seja. Each clause could stand alone.
2. Subordination. One clause embedded inside another, usually introduced by a conjunction (porque, quando, embora, se, para que) or a relative pronoun (que, quem, onde, cujo). The embedded clause depends on the main clause.
3. Reduction. A full clause compressed into a non-finite form — a participle, gerund, infinitive, or nominalisation. This is where Portuguese prose gets its density.

A seasoned writer mixes all three within a paragraph. Below we work through each family, then close with a reworking exercise: a short text first written in choppy sentences, then refactored using different combining strategies.

Coordination: five logical relations

Portuguese coordinates clauses with a small, high-frequency inventory of conjunctions, grouped by logical function. The full treatment is on Compound Sentences; here is a condensed reference.

Layered coordination

A single sentence can chain multiple coordinators. This is a natural way to build up descriptive paragraphs:

Coordination shines when the clauses are genuinely parallel in importance. When one idea depends on another, or when one serves as background for the other, subordination is the better tool.

Subordination: six logical relations

Subordinate clauses attach to a main clause and play a grammatical role within it — as an object, a modifier, a circumstantial adverbial, or a conditional. Full treatment is on Complex Sentences; here are the six main types, with the conjunctions and moods they take.

The mood selection is load-bearing. Final clauses (para que) always take the subjunctive — the purpose is not yet realised. Concessive clauses (embora) take the subjunctive because the concession acknowledges a conflicting hypothetical. Conditional clauses with se (if) split by tense: present/future use the indicative or future subjunctive, past hypotheticals use the imperfect subjunctive. Temporal clauses take the subjunctive only for future events viewed hypothetically (quando chegares — subjunctive, future); past temporal clauses take the indicative.

Reduction: turning clauses into phrases

A full subordinate clause has a subject and a finite verb — quando cheguei a casa, liguei-te. Reduction replaces that finite clause with a non-finite phrase (participle, gerund, infinitive). The result is denser prose, more characteristic of written than spoken Portuguese, and — in European Portuguese — a reliable mark of sophistication.

Participial reduction

A past participle (agreeing in gender and number) can replace a temporal clause, a causal clause, or even a conditional. The construction is called an absolute (construção absoluta) when it has its own subject, distinct from the main clause. Full treatment is on Absolute Constructions; a quick preview:

European Portuguese prose — newspaper articles, academic writing, legal documents — uses participial absolutes regularly. They are less common in casual speech, where the full subordinate clause (depois de a reunião terminar, quando terminou a reunião) is preferred.

Gerundial reduction

Portuguese can use a simple gerund (-ndo) to compress a concurrent or causal clause. However, European Portuguese is markedly more reserved about the gerund than Brazilian Portuguese. Several gerundial constructions that are completely natural in BR feel stiff or marked in PT-PT.

For progressive aspect, PT-PT does not use estar + gerund — that is Brazilian. PT-PT uses estar a + infinitive: estou a escrever, not estou escrevendo. This is one of the cleanest dialect markers.

Infinitive reduction

The most natural reduction in European Portuguese uses an infinitive. A preposition introduces the non-finite clause; the infinitive can be the plain (impersonal) one or the personal infinitive, depending on whether the implicit subject differs from the main clause.

The personal infinitive — Portuguese's secret weapon

European Portuguese has a feature unique among major Romance languages: the personal infinitive (infinitivo pessoal). Unlike the plain infinitive, the personal infinitive can carry person-number endings, which lets it specify its own subject even when that subject differs from the main clause's.

infinitive stem + person-number ending: -, -es, -, -mos, -em

The personal infinitive is what lets Portuguese produce compact prepositional phrases that English can only render with subordinate clauses. English "for us to go" expands to something longer than Portuguese irmos; "until they arrived" needs a full clause, but Portuguese has até eles chegarem — shorter, tighter, natural.

Nominalisation: promoting a clause to a noun

Portuguese, like its Romance cousins, loves nominalisation: turning a verb into a noun and letting it carry the weight of a whole clause. This is a primary tool in formal prose — journalism, academic writing, legal documents — and it is how a paragraph shifts from verbose to concise.

Notice the structural shift: the full clause ela chegou becomes the noun phrase a chegada dela. The agent (ela) is demoted to a possessive or a de-phrase; the verb becomes a noun. The whole action fits into a subject or object slot, leaving the main verb to express something else.

Nominalisation is particularly powerful at the start of a paragraph, where it sets up the topic without spending a whole clause on it:

Clefts as a combining strategy

A cleft (foi X que...) or pseudo-cleft (o que X é...) takes two propositions — someone did something; here is who — and merges them into a single sentence while simultaneously marking which part is in focus. Full treatment is on Focus and Emphasis and É...que Constructions.

Compare the neutral two-sentence version with the cleft:

The cleft combines two pieces of information and foregrounds one of them, all while eliminating the need for an anaphoric pronoun. It is an especially useful combining strategy when the neutral sentence order would bury the newsworthy element.

A worked example: refactoring a short text

Consider this paragraph, written in deliberately short, choppy sentences. Each fact is clear, but the prose is flat and child-like.

Cheguei a casa. Estava cansado. Tinha um recado no telemóvel. O recado era da Ana. A Ana queria marcar um jantar. Eu queria ir. Mas não podia nessa semana. Tinha prometido à minha mãe ir visitá-la. Por isso, liguei à Ana. Expliquei a situação. Sugeri a semana seguinte. Ela concordou logo.

Nine sentences. Now the same content refactored with sentence combining strategies:

Cheguei a casa cansado e encontrei um recado da Ana no telemóvel, a sugerir um jantar. Queria muito ir, mas tinha prometido à minha mãe visitá-la nessa semana, pelo que liguei à Ana, expliquei a situação e sugeri a semana seguinte — ao que ela concordou logo.

Three sentences, all the information preserved. Let us see what combining moves did the work:

• Cheguei a casa cansado — reduction of Estava cansado into a predicate adjective attached to the main clause.
• e encontrei um recado da Ana no telemóvel — additive coordination with e, plus nominalisation (um recado da Ana) that condenses tinha um recado no telemóvel. O recado era da Ana.
• a sugerir um jantar — infinitive reduction replacing A Ana queria marcar um jantar. (In PT-PT, a + infinitive is a productive adjectival modifier, meaning "suggesting.")
• Queria muito ir, mas... — adversative coordination compressing Eu queria ir. Mas não podia...
• tinha prometido à minha mãe visitá-la nessa semana — the reason embedded as a finite clause in the past perfect; the plain infinitive visitá-la (with the clitic -la attached via enclisis) is a further reduction of ir visitá-la.
• pelo que liguei à Ana — the conclusive conjunction pelo que ("and so / as a result") coordinates the next action.
• expliquei a situação e sugeri a semana seguinte — additive coordination within the same clause, two parallel verbs sharing a subject.
• — ao que ela concordou logo — a reduced relative ("to which she immediately agreed") closes the sentence with a cleft-like flourish.

The refactored paragraph has all the same facts but reads as adult prose. It uses coordination, subordination, participial and infinitive reduction, and nominalisation in combination. No single tool does all the work — the skill is in the mix.

Choosing the right combining strategy

A few rules of thumb for when to reach for each tool:

Rhythm and variety

One thing distinguishes genuine native writing from the prose of a fluent non-native: variety of combining strategies within a paragraph. A writer who reaches for e over and over, or who strings together subordinate clauses with porque after porque, sounds monotonous. A writer who alternates — a compound sentence here, a pseudo-cleft there, a participial absolute to open the next sentence — creates rhythm.

The best way to internalise this is to read Portuguese prose aloud and listen for the cadence. Notice how a journalist leads with a nominalisation (A chegada do primeiro-ministro...), transitions with a gerund (sendo acompanhado por...), elaborates with a subordinate clause (enquanto decorria a conferência...), and closes with a cleft (é neste contexto que...). Each sentence is shaped differently. Each combining move is motivated.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Sentence combining has three families: coordination (grammatical equals), subordination (one clause inside another), and reduction (full clause compressed to a non-finite phrase).
• Coordination splits into five logical relations: additive, adversative, alternative, conclusive, explanatory. Each has its preferred conjunction.
• Subordination splits into six main relations: causal, consecutive, final, conditional, concessive, temporal. Mood selection (indicative vs. subjunctive) is load-bearing.
• Reduction is where PT-PT prose gets its density: participial absolutes (terminada a reunião...), infinitive phrases (ao chegar, depois de jantar), and the uniquely Portuguese personal infinitive (para irmos, antes de chegarmos).
• European Portuguese is reserved about the simple gerund. Use estar a + infinitive, not estar + gerund, for progressive aspect.
• Nominalisation (verb → noun: chegar → a chegada, decidir → a decisão) is the go-to move for compact formal prose, especially at the start of a paragraph.
• Clefts and pseudo-clefts combine two propositions into one while marking focus explicitly.
• The hallmark of sophisticated writing is variety: a paragraph should use several combining strategies, not just hammer one.
• The personal infinitive deserves special attention — it is unique to Portuguese and replaces many subjunctive subordinate clauses with shorter infinitive phrases.