Depois de os lavar, precisei de secá-los ao sol.
After washing them, I needed to dry them in the sun.
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Questions & Answers about Depois de os lavar, precisei de secá-los ao sol.
Why is the object pronoun os placed before the verb lavar in “Depois de os lavar”?
In European Portuguese, when an infinitive follows a preposition (here, de), the object pronoun is usually positioned in its proclitic (pre-verbal) form. That’s why we see “os lavar” instead of attaching the pronoun to the end of the verb.
Why is the pronoun attached to the end of the verb in “secá-los” and connected by a hyphen?
When an object pronoun is attached to an affirmative infinitive, it is placed in the enclitic position, meaning it comes after the verb and is connected with a hyphen. So in “secá-los,” the pronoun attaches directly to secar, following this standard rule.
What is the role of the preposition de in “precisei de secá-los”?
The verb precisar in this context requires the preposition de to express necessity. “Precisei de secá-los” means “I had to dry them,” and the de links precisar with its infinitive complement. Omitting it would be grammatically incorrect in this usage.
What does the phrase ao sol tell us about the action?
Ao sol literally means “in the sun.” It specifies how or where the drying took place—that the items were dried naturally by exposure to sunlight.
Why is there a comma after “Depois de os lavar”?
The comma separates the initial subordinate adverbial clause “Depois de os lavar” (After washing them) from the main clause “precisei de secá-los ao sol.” This punctuation clarifies the sentence structure and aids readability.
Do the pronouns os and los refer to the same object, and why do they appear differently?
Yes, both refer to the same masculine plural object. Their different appearances are solely due to their syntactic placement: os appears before lavar (proclitic positioning due to the preceding preposition de in the clause “Depois de os lavar”), whereas los is attached to secar (enclitic positioning in the infinitive form “secá-los”). The change in placement is a common feature of clitic pronoun rules in European Portuguese.
Would this sentence be constructed differently in Brazilian Portuguese?
Often it would. In Brazilian Portuguese, speakers tend to attach the pronoun to the infinitive even after a preposition. Thus, you might encounter “Depois de lavá-los, precisei de secá-los ao sol,” with the pronoun enclitic in both cases. Both versions are correct—the variation simply reflects regional differences in clitic placement.