Word
Depois de lavar a louça, eu gosto de enxugar os pratos logo.
Meaning
After washing the dishes, I like to dry the plates right away.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Breakdown of Depois de lavar a louça, eu gosto de enxugar os pratos logo.
eu
I
gostar de
to like
depois de
after
lavar
to wash
Questions & Answers about Depois de lavar a louça, eu gosto de enxugar os pratos logo.
Why is it depois de lavar instead of a conjugated verb form?
Because depois de is commonly followed by the infinitive when you mean after doing something.
So:
- depois de lavar a louça = after washing the dishes
- literally: after washing the dishes
This is a very common Portuguese pattern:
- depois de comer = after eating
- depois de estudar = after studying
- depois de chegar = after arriving
If you use a conjugated verb instead, you usually need a different structure, such as:
- depois que eu lavo a louça...
- depois que eu lavar a louça...
Those are possible, but they are different constructions. In your sentence, depois de + infinitive is the most natural compact form.
Why is it a louça if the meaning is plural in English?
In Portuguese, louça is often used as a collective noun meaning dishes/tableware. Even though it refers to many items, it is grammatically singular here:
- lavar a louça = to wash the dishes
This is very natural in Brazilian Portuguese. English does something similar with words like furniture or luggage: grammatically singular, but referring to multiple things.
So even though louça includes many objects, you still say:
- a louça
- not necessarily as louças
Why does the sentence later say os pratos instead of repeating a louça?