Breakdown of Quando venceres o concurso, avisa-me.
quando
when
me
me
vencer
to win
o concurso
the contest
avisar
to inform
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Questions & Answers about Quando venceres o concurso, avisa-me.
Why is venceres used instead of vences or vencerás?
Portuguese uses the future subjunctive after conjunctions like quando to talk about a future, possible action. venceres is the second-person singular future subjunctive of vencer, whereas vences is the present indicative and vencerás is the future indicative. The future subjunctive expresses a conditional or time-dependent action: “When you win the contest…”.
What exactly is the future subjunctive mood and when is it used?
The future subjunctive is a verb mood in Portuguese used for actions that depend on a future event. Key triggers include conjunctions like:
- quando (when)
- se (if)
- logo que (as soon as)
- assim que (once)
It indicates that the action is uncertain and will only happen if/when another event occurs.
How do you form the future subjunctive for regular verbs like vencer?
- Take the third-person plural of the preterite: venceram
- Remove –ram to get the stem vencer
- Add the future subjunctive endings:
• eu – vencer
• tu – venceres
• ele/ela – vencer
• nós – vencermos
• vós – vencerdes
• eles/elas – vencerem
Why avisa-me and not me avisa?
In European Portuguese, the default clitic placement for affirmative imperatives is enclisis (after the verb). Since avisa here is an affirmative imperative, the pronoun attaches after: avisa-me. Proclisis (me avisa) is more common in Brazilian Portuguese or after certain negative/subordinating words.
Is avisa-me an imperative or another tense?
It is the second-person singular affirmative imperative of avisar (“you let me know”). Although avisa looks like the present indicative for tu, in this context it functions as a command.
How would the sentence change if I used você instead of tu?
Using você, you switch to third-person forms:
- Future subjunctive: vencer
- Imperative (uses present subjunctive): avise
So the sentence becomes:
Quando você vencer o concurso, avise-me.
You can often drop você entirely because Portuguese conjugates differently in the third person.
Why isn’t the pronoun tu written out in the sentence?
Portuguese often omits subject pronouns when the verb ending clearly shows the person. venceres and avisa both have tu-endings, so tu is understood and usually left out for a more natural flow.
Why is there a comma after concurso?
Because the sentence begins with an adverbial subordinate clause (Quando venceres o concurso). Standard Portuguese punctuation places a comma between such an introductory clause and the main clause (avisa-me).