Se a senhora não ler meu e-mail hoje, eu deixo outro recado amanhã.

If you do not read my email today, ma’am, I will leave another message tomorrow.

Breakdown of Se a senhora não ler meu e-mail hoje, eu deixo outro recado amanhã.

• eu: I
• não: not
• hoje: today
• meu: my

Questions & Answers about Se a senhora não ler meu e-mail hoje, eu deixo outro recado amanhã.

Why does the sentence use a senhora?

A senhora is a polite, formal way to say you when speaking to a woman in Brazilian Portuguese.

A few important points:

• It is more formal than você.
• It is very common in customer service, business, or when speaking respectfully to an older woman.
• Even though it means you, it takes third-person singular verb forms.

So:

• a senhora não ler
• not a senhora não leres or anything like that

That is why the sentence is built as if it were talking about she, even though it really means you, ma’am.

Why is there an article in a senhora?

In Portuguese, o senhor and a senhora are fixed polite expressions. The article is normally part of the expression.

So you usually say:

• A senhora quer esperar?
• O senhor precisa de ajuda?

In English, we do not say the ma’am, but Portuguese does use the article here.

Why is the verb ler after se instead of lê or leia?