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Questions & Answers about Você ainda quer morar aqui?
Why is quer in the third person singular, and what role does você play in this sentence?
- Portuguese is a pro-drop language: subjects can be omitted if context is clear.
- In Brazil, the standard second-person pronoun is você, even in informal speech.
- Você takes third-person verb forms, so we say você quer, not você queres.
- If you use tu (still common in some regions), it takes second-person conjugation: tu queres.
- For plural “you,” you’d say vocês querem.
Can I omit você and just say Ainda quer morar aqui? Will it still be understood?
- Yes. Because Portuguese verb endings carry person information, you can drop você in everyday speech.
- Ainda quer morar aqui? still means “Do you still want to live here?” without any ambiguity.
What does ainda mean, and where can it be placed in the sentence?
- Ainda means still (indicating continuation).
- Most natural: before the main verb – Você ainda quer morar aqui?
- Also acceptable: at the end – Você quer morar aqui ainda?
- Less common but possible: between verbs – Você quer ainda morar aqui?
Why is morar in the infinitive form instead of a conjugated verb?
- After verbs of desire/intention (like querer), Portuguese uses the infinitive for the action verb.
- Structure: querer + infinitive, e.g. quer morar, quer comer, quer viajar.
- Conjugating the second verb (e.g. você quer eu moro) would be ungrammatical.
How do you form a yes/no question in Portuguese? Why isn't there inversion like in English?
- Portuguese keeps the normal Subject–Verb–Object order even in questions.
- It relies on rising intonation and the question mark rather than swapping the verb and subject.
- English: “Do you still want to live here?” (auxiliary inversion)
- Portuguese: Você ainda quer morar aqui? (no inversion)
Why is there only one question mark at the end? I’m used to Spanish opening ¿.
- Portuguese punctuation uses a single closing ?.
- There is no opening question mark (no ¿) at the beginning of questions.
What’s the difference between Você ainda quer morar aqui? and Você ainda mora aqui??
- Você ainda quer morar aqui? = “Do you still want to live here?” (asks about desire/intention)
- Você ainda mora aqui? = “Do you still live here?” (asks about current situation)
Can I swap querer with gostar de? How would that change the meaning?
- Você ainda gosta de morar aqui? means “Do you still like living here?” (focus on enjoyment)
- Você ainda quer morar aqui? means “Do you still want to live here?” (focus on desire)