Breakdown of Compare a restituição com o imposto devido.
Questions & Answers about Compare a restituição com o imposto devido.
Why does the sentence start with Compare? Is that a command?
Yes. Compare is the imperative form, so it means Compare... as a command or instruction.
In Brazilian Portuguese, this form is commonly used for:
- instructions
- forms
- manuals
- exercises
- official guidance
Here, Compare is most naturally understood as a command addressed to você (or sometimes a formal reader in general).
Why is there no subject, like você?
Why is it a restituição and o imposto? What are these little words doing?
These are the definite articles:
So:
- a restituição = the refund / the reimbursement
- o imposto = the tax
Portuguese uses definite articles more often than English does, so keeping them in Portuguese is very normal.
How do I know that restituição is feminine?
What exactly does restituição mean here?
In this context, restituição usually means a tax refund.
More generally, restituição can mean:
- restitution
- reimbursement
- refund
But with imposto in the same sentence, a learner should usually think of tax refund.
Why is it comparar X com Y? Can Portuguese also use another preposition?
Yes. The most common pattern is:
- comparar X com Y = to compare X with Y
So:
- Compare a restituição com o imposto devido.
Portuguese can also use comparar X a Y, which is also correct, but com is very common and usually the easiest choice for learners.
So for everyday use, comparar ... com ... is a safe pattern to learn.
What does devido mean in imposto devido?
Here, devido means something like:
- owed
- due
- payable
So imposto devido means tax owed or tax due.
It is describing the noun imposto.
Why does devido come after imposto instead of before it?
In Portuguese, adjectives often come after the noun.
So:
- imposto devido = literally tax due / owed tax
This post-noun position is very normal in Portuguese.
In English, adjectives usually come before the noun, but Portuguese often works differently:
- casa grande
- valor total
- imposto devido
Is devido an adjective here, or is it part of a verb phrase?
Could I also say o imposto a pagar?
Yes, and it would be similar in meaning.
- o imposto devido = the tax owed / due
- o imposto a pagar = the tax to be paid / the tax payable
Both are possible, but imposto devido sounds especially common in formal, legal, tax, and administrative language.
How is restituição pronounced, especially the ending?
A helpful approximation is:
Notes:
- The stress is on the last syllable: -ção
- -ção is a very common ending in Portuguese
- In Brazilian Portuguese, ção sounds roughly like sown with a nasal ending, though not exactly like English
So the key thing to remember is the stressed ending -ÇÃO.
What kind of sentence is this in real life?
It sounds like a sentence you might see in:
- tax instructions
- a government website
- accounting guidance
- a financial form
- a textbook exercise
The tone is neutral, direct, and somewhat formal. It is not especially conversational, but it is completely natural in written instructions.
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