Desligue o celular quando a reunião começar.

Turn off the phone when the meeting starts.

Breakdown of Desligue o celular quando a reunião começar.

• quando: when
• começar: to start
• a reunião: the meeting
• o celular: the cell phone
• desligar: to turn off

Questions & Answers about Desligue o celular quando a reunião começar.

Why is it Desligue and not Desliga?

• In Brazilian Portuguese, the affirmative imperative for você is formed from the present subjunctive: desligue.
• Desliga is the affirmative imperative for tu. Some regions in Brazil use tu colloquially, but most of the country addresses people as você, so desligue sounds more standard.
• Plural to address a group: Desliguem (for vocês).
• Negative imperative uses the present subjunctive for all persons: Não desligue (você), Não desliguem (vocês), Não desligues (tu).

Is Desligue formal or just neutral? How can I make it more polite?

• Desligue to você is neutral in Brazil; it’s common in announcements and instructions.
• To soften:
  • Por favor, desligue o celular...
  • Poderia desligar o celular quando a reunião começar?
  • Very formal: O senhor/A senhora poderia desligar o celular quando a reunião começar?

Why is it o celular and not seu celular? How does Portuguese indicate “your”?

• Portuguese often uses the definite article to refer to a listener’s item when the ownership is obvious from context. Desligue o celular naturally implies “turn off your phone.”
• Adding a possessive is optional, especially in general instructions or signs.

Can I say Desligue seu celular or Desligue o seu celular?

• Yes. Both are common.
• Nuance:
  • Desligue seu celular is concise and neutral.
  • Desligue o seu celular is also very common in Brazil; many speakers insert the article with the possessive.
  • In regions that use tu, you may hear teu celular/o teu celular.
• On a public notice, omitting the possessive (o celular) often sounds more generic and idiomatic.

Why is it quando a reunião começar and not quando a reunião começa or quando a reunião comece?

• Portuguese uses the future subjunctive after time conjunctions like quando when referring to a future event that hasn’t happened yet.
• So you say quando a reunião começar (future subj.).
• Use quando a reunião começa (present indicative) for habitual or scheduled facts: Sempre desligo o celular quando a reunião começa.
• Quando a reunião comece (present subj.) is generally not used with quando; it appears after other conjunctions like antes que, para que, etc.

How is the future subjunctive of começar formed, and what are the forms?

• It comes from the 3rd person plural preterite: começaram → drop -am → stem começar-.
• Forms:
  • eu: quando eu começar
  • você/ele/ela: quando começar
  • nós: quando começarmos
  • vocês/eles/elas: quando começarem
• Note: começar (future subj.) for você/ele looks identical to the infinitive in writing.

Do I need a comma before quando here?

• With the main clause first, no comma: Desligue o celular quando a reunião começar.
• If you start with the time clause, add a comma: Quando a reunião começar, desligue o celular.

Can I say quando começar a reunião instead of quando a reunião começar?

• Yes, quando começar a reunião is grammatical and a bit more formal/literary. In everyday speech, quando a reunião começar is more common.

Could I replace the noun with a pronoun, like “turn it off”?

• Yes. With a masculine singular object (o celular), standard placement in the affirmative imperative is enclitic: Desligue-o.
• In the negative, pronouns go before the verb: Não o desligue.
• In everyday Brazilian speech, people often avoid clitic pronouns here and just keep the noun: Desligue o celular. Using Desligue-o can sound formal or bookish.

Does desligar mean “power off”? What if I only want “silence” the phone?

• Desligar = power the device off.
• If you mean mute, use:
  • Silencie o celular.
  • Coloque o celular no silencioso.
  • On signs: Mantenha o celular no silencioso durante a reunião.

How would this be said in European Portuguese?

• Vocabulary: telemóvel instead of celular.
• A natural EP version: Desligue o telemóvel quando a reunião começar.
• Imperative and the future subjunctive work the same way.

What are the gender and plural forms for celular, and how do I address a group?

• celular is masculine: o celular; plural: os celulares.
• To address a group: Desliguem os celulares, por favor. (desliguem = vocês plural imperative)

Any spelling or pronunciation tips for words in the sentence?

• Desligue: the gue gives a hard g (like in “get”); stress on the middle syllable: des-LI-gue.
• celular: seh-loo-LAR; final syllable stressed.
• reunião: heh-oo-nee-ÃO; nasal ão at the end carries the stress.
• começar: co-me-SAR; the ç keeps an S sound before a. The mark under the c is a cedilla; there’s no crasis (à) here.

How can I say “before/as soon as the meeting starts” instead of using quando?

• Before:
  • Antes que a reunião comece, desligue o celular. (present subjunctive after antes que)
  • Antes de a reunião começar, desligue o celular. (often colloquially Antes da reunião começar...)
• As soon as:
  • Assim que a reunião começar, desligue o celular.
  • Logo que a reunião começar, desligue o celular.

Why is it a reunião and not à reunião or da reunião?

• Here a is just the definite article (the meeting).
• Quando is a conjunction and doesn’t require the preposition a, so there is no crasis (à).
• da would be de + a, which doesn’t fit here either.

What if the context is a posted notice rather than a direct command?

• Common sign-style alternatives:
  • Favor desligar o celular quando a reunião começar.
  • Por favor, manter o celular no silencioso durante a reunião.
  • É proibido usar o celular durante a reunião.