Breakdown of Se a impressora não funcionar, eu envio o arquivo pelo celular.
eu
I
não
not
se
if
enviar
to send
Questions & Answers about Se a impressora não funcionar, eu envio o arquivo pelo celular.
Why does the sentence start with Se?
Se means if here. It introduces a condition:
- Se a impressora não funcionar... = If the printer doesn’t work...
This is a very common pattern in Portuguese for conditional sentences.
Why is it funcionar and not funciona?
After se in a future-type condition, Portuguese usually uses the future subjunctive.
So:
- Se a impressora não funcionar... = If the printer doesn’t work / if the printer should fail to work...
For many regular -ar verbs, the future subjunctive looks exactly like the infinitive, so funcionar can be confusing because it looks like the dictionary form.
Compare:
- Ela não funciona. = It doesn’t work.
- Se ela não funcionar... = If it doesn’t work...
So this is not just an infinitive here; it is the correct verb form for this kind of conditional sentence.
Why is it eu envio instead of eu enviarei?