Breakdown of Quando visitares o distrito vizinho, experimenta o queijo local.
tu
you
quando
when
experimentar
to try
local
local
visitar
to visit
o queijo
the cheese
vizinho
neighbouring
o distrito
the district
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Questions & Answers about Quando visitares o distrito vizinho, experimenta o queijo local.
Why is visitares used here instead of a simple present form like visitas?
Visitares is the 2nd person singular future subjunctive of visitar. In Portuguese, when you have a temporal conjunction like quando referring to a future action, you use the future subjunctive, not the present indicative. So quando visitares literally means “when you will visit,” but is best understood as “when you visit” in English.
Could we say quando você visitar instead of quando visitares?
Yes. If you switch to the polite or neutral 3rd person form você, you must also change the verb forms accordingly. You’d get:
- Quando você visitar o distrito vizinho, experimente o queijo local.
Notice visitar stays the same (3rd person future subjunctive) and experimente becomes the 3rd person singular affirmative imperative.
Why is the second verb experimenta and not experimentas or experimente?
That’s the affirmative imperative for tu. In Portuguese, to form the tu imperative you take the present indicative (tu experimentas) and drop the final -s, giving experimenta.
- experimentas = present tense (“you try”)
- experimenta = imperative (“you try it!”)
- experimente = 3rd person imperative (used with você)
Why isn’t the subject pronoun tu written in the sentence?
Portuguese is a pro-drop language: verb endings typically tell you who’s doing the action, so including tu is redundant. Omitting it makes the phrase more natural: the -es in visitares and the absence of -s in experimenta already signal “you.”
What about the article o in o queijo local? Can it be omitted?
In Portuguese, definite articles are often used before nouns even in general statements. Here, o queijo local refers to “the (specific) local cheese” of that district. Omitting the article (experimenta queijo local) is grammatically possible but sounds less natural and slightly more informal.
Why is the adjective vizinho placed after distrito? Could it come before?
By default, most adjectives in Portuguese follow the noun: distrito vizinho. Placing the adjective before (e.g. vizinho distrito) is rare and usually poetic or stylistically marked. Stick with the post-noun position for everyday use.
When exactly do we need the future subjunctive in Portuguese?
Use it in subordinate clauses that refer to uncertain future events, especially after conjunctions like quando, assim que, logo que, se (when meaning “if”), enquanto, etc. Example patterns:
- Se fores a Lisboa, manda-me uma postal.
- Logo que chegares, avisa-me.
- Quando visitares, traz um livro.