Assim que eu dobrar o lençol, vou pendurá-lo na varanda.

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Breakdown of Assim que eu dobrar o lençol, vou pendurá-lo na varanda.

• ir: to go (future auxiliary)
• na: on the
• o: it

Questions & Answers about Assim que eu dobrar o lençol, vou pendurá-lo na varanda.

What does assim que mean in this sentence?

Assim que means as soon as.

It introduces an action that will happen immediately after another one:

• Assim que eu dobrar o lençol, vou pendurá-lo...
• As soon as I fold the sheet, I’m going to hang it...

It is a very common way to connect two future actions in Portuguese.

Why is it eu dobrar and not eu dobro?

Because after assim que, when you are talking about the future, Portuguese normally uses the future subjunctive.

So:

• Assim que eu dobrar... = As soon as I fold...
• not Assim que eu dobro... in this future meaning

This is one of the most important uses of the future subjunctive in Portuguese. You often see it after words like:

• quando = when
• assim que = as soon as
• logo que = as soon as
• se = if

For regular -ar verbs like dobrar, the future subjunctive form for eu looks exactly like the infinitive:

• infinitive: dobrar
• future subjunctive: quando eu dobrar, assim que eu dobrar

So it may look like the infinitive, but here it is functioning as a conjugated verb form.

Is assim que the same as quando?