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Desligue o celular quando a reunião começar.

Desligue o celular quando a reunião começar.
Turn off the phone when the meeting starts.
FromLesson 11inHardcore Portuguese (Brazil)
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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.