Word
Se eu estiver com dor de garganta, vou beber água com limão.
Meaning
If I have a sore throat, I will drink water with lemon.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Breakdown of Se eu estiver com dor de garganta, vou beber água com limão.
eu
I
estar
to be
beber
to drink
a água
the water
Questions & Answers about Se eu estiver com dor de garganta, vou beber água com limão.
Why is it Se eu estiver and not Se eu estou?
Because Portuguese normally uses the future subjunctive after se when talking about a possible future situation.
So:
- Se eu estiver com dor de garganta... = If I have / if I happen to have a sore throat...
- Se eu estou... sounds wrong here because estou is present indicative, and this sentence is about a future possibility, not a current fact.
This is a very common pattern in Portuguese:
- Se eu tiver tempo, vou. = If I have time, I’ll go.
- Se chover, fico em casa. = If it rains, I’ll stay home.
- Se ele vier, a gente conversa. = If he comes, we’ll talk.
So se + future subjunctive is one of the key things to learn for future if clauses in Portuguese.
What exactly is estiver?
Estiver is the future subjunctive form of estar for eu.
Here is the mini-conjugation:
It comes from the verb estar, which is irregular, so the form is not predictable from the infinitive in an obvious way.
You will see this same form in many common sentences:
Why does Portuguese say instead of something more like ?