Se você mastigar devagar, vai ficar mais fácil engolir esse remédio.

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Breakdown of Se você mastigar devagar, vai ficar mais fácil engolir esse remédio.

• ir: to go (future auxiliary)
• esse: this
• se: if

Questions & Answers about Se você mastigar devagar, vai ficar mais fácil engolir esse remédio.

Is mastigar here the infinitive?

Not exactly. In this sentence, mastigar is the future subjunctive, used after se when talking about a possible future condition.

So:

• Se você mastigar devagar... = If you chew slowly...

This can be confusing because with regular -ar verbs, the future subjunctive form for você/ele/ela looks exactly like the infinitive:

• infinitive: mastigar
• future subjunctive: se você mastigar

So it looks the same, but its job in the sentence is different.

Why does Portuguese use the future subjunctive after se here?

Because the sentence is about a real possibility in the future.

Portuguese often uses:

• se + future subjunctive
• quando + future subjunctive

when the speaker means if/when this happens later.

So:

• Se você mastigar devagar, vai ficar mais fácil...

is the natural way to say If you chew slowly, it will become easier...

English does not have this special verb form, but Portuguese does.

Could I say Se você mastiga devagar instead?