Breakdown of Vou editar o documento esta tarde e enviá-lo amanhã.
eu
I
ir
to go
esta
this
e
and
amanhã
tomorrow
o
the
enviar
to send
o
it
o documento
the document
a tarde
the afternoon
editar
to edit
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Portuguese grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Vou editar o documento esta tarde e enviá-lo amanhã.
Why is the subject pronoun omitted in vou editar o documento esta tarde?
Portuguese is a “pro‐drop” language, meaning you can leave out subject pronouns (eu, tu, ele…) because the verb ending already tells you who’s doing the action. Here, vou (1st person singular of ir) makes it clear that it’s “I” who will edit.
Why is esta written without an accent in esta tarde?
esta (no accent) is a demonstrative adjective meaning “this” and agrees in gender with the feminine noun tarde. If you see está (with an accent), that’s the verb “to be” (ele está = he is).
Why is the time expression placed after the verb instead of at the beginning?
Portuguese word order is fairly flexible. You can say:
- Vou editar o documento esta tarde
- Esta tarde vou editar o documento
Both are correct. Placing esta tarde at the start simply emphasizes the time.
Why is the pronoun o attached to enviar with a hyphen (enviá-lo) instead of appearing before the verb?
European Portuguese prefers enclisis (attaching clitic pronouns to the end) when there’s no preceding stressed word in the clause. After a conjunction like e, you treat enviar as a new unit, so the direct object pronoun o (“it,” referring to “the document”) clings on as enviá-lo.
Why does enviá-lo have an accent on the “á”?
Adding -lo would shift the natural stress of enviar from the second syllable to the third if unmarked (en.vi.nar-lo). The acute accent on á preserves the original stress: en.vi.Á/lo.
Could you say vou enviá-lo amanhã without mentioning amanhã?
You can omit amanhã if the context already makes it clear you’ll send it the next day. But if you want to specify “tomorrow,” you need amanhã. It’s your adverb of time.
Is vou editar the same as irei editar?
They both express future tense, but:
- vou editar is the periphrastic future (colloquial, very common)
- irei editar is the simple future (more formal/literary)
Meaning doesn’t change much; it’s a style choice.
Why don’t we attach o to vou as vou-o enviar?
Because pronoun placement rules in European Portuguese forbid enclisis on a conjugated verb when it’s the very first word of the clause. Since vou occupies that position, the pronoun cannot attach there. Instead, you attach it to the infinitive enviar.