Lubrifiquei a corrente.

I lubricated the chain.

Breakdown of Lubrifiquei a corrente.

• o: the
• a corrente: a bicycle chain
• lubrificar: to lubricate

Questions & Answers about Lubrifiquei a corrente.

What tense is lubrifiquei?

Lubrifiquei is the 1st person singular form of lubrificar in the pretérito perfeito simples.

In practical terms, it means:

• I lubricated
• I oiled / I greased (depending on context)
• a completed action in the past

So the sentence describes something the speaker finished doing.

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Why is it lubrifiquei and not lubrificei?

This is a spelling change that keeps the pronunciation consistent.

The verb is lubrificar. In forms where c would come before e or i, Portuguese often changes c to qu to preserve the hard k sound.

So:

• lubrificar → lubrifiquei
• not lubrificei, because that would suggest a softer sound

The same thing happens in other verbs:

• ficar → fiquei
• explicar → expliquei

So qu here is mainly an orthographic change to keep the sound right.

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Why is there no eu?