Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Se eu pagar a mensalidade hoje, posso começar o curso amanhã. - If I pay the monthly payment today, I can start the course tomorrow.

Word

Se eu pagar a mensalidade hoje, posso começar o curso amanhã.

Meaning

If I pay the monthly payment today, I can start the course tomorrow.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of Se eu pagar a mensalidade hoje, posso começar o curso amanhã.

Why is pagar used after se eu instead of something like pagarei or pago?

After se when Portuguese talks about a real future possibility, it often uses the future subjunctive.

So:

For regular -ar verbs like pagar, the future subjunctive form for eu looks the same as the infinitive:

That is why Se eu pagar is correct here.

Compare:

Portuguese does not normally use the future tense right after se in this kind of conditional sentence.

What does se mean here?

Se means if.

It introduces the condition:

This sets up the condition for the second part:

So the full structure is:

Is eu necessary in Se eu pagar?