Breakdown of Depois de completares o formulário, entrega-o na secretária da professora.
de
of
em
at
depois de
after
a professora
the teacher
o
it
entregar
to hand in
o formulário
the form
completar
to complete
a secretária
the desk
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Questions & Answers about Depois de completares o formulário, entrega-o na secretária da professora.
Why is completares used instead of the simple infinitive completar?
In European Portuguese, after prepositions like depois de, when the subject of the infinitive is clear (here “you”), you use the personal infinitive. completares is the second-person singular personal infinitive (“for you to complete”). The impersonal infinitive completar doesn’t mark who performs the action and is less specific in EP.
Could I just say Depois de completar o formulário, entrega-o na secretária da professora?
Yes, it’s grammatically acceptable, especially in Brazilian Portuguese. However, in Portugal native speakers prefer the personal infinitive (completares) after depois de to make it clear that tu is the one doing the action.
What does entrega-o mean, and why is it hyphenated?
entrega-o is the affirmative imperative “hand it in.” In Portuguese, when you attach a direct-object pronoun to an affirmative command, you link it with a hyphen. Here o refers back to formulário, so entrega (tu-command of entregar) + o = entrega-o.
Why is the verb in entrega-o entrega and not entregue?
For the tu affirmative imperative in European Portuguese, you take the present-tense form (tu entregas) and drop the final -s, giving entrega. Entregue would be the third-person/subjunctive form used for você or ele/ela, not for tu.
What does na secretária da professora mean, and is secretária a desk or a secretary?
Here secretária means “desk” (the piece of furniture). The preposition em + the feminine article a contracts to na, so it literally means “on the teacher’s desk.” If you meant the teacher’s assistant, you would use entrega-o à secretária da professora (preposition a + article a = à).
Why is na used instead of no, nas or nos?
Portuguese contracts em (in/on) with the definite article.
- no = em + o (masculine singular)
- na = em + a (feminine singular)
- nos = em + os (masculine plural)
- nas = em + as (feminine plural)
Since secretária is feminine singular, we use na.
Can I use preencher instead of completar when talking about a form?
Yes. Both preencher o formulário and completar o formulário mean “fill out the form.” In Portugal preencher is very common, but completar is also perfectly fine and understood.
Could I say Depois de teres completado o formulário instead of Depois de completares o formulário?
Yes. That uses the perfect personal infinitive (ter + past participle) and emphasizes the action’s completion. Grammatically it’s correct but more formal and wordy. The simple personal infinitive (completares) is shorter and more common in everyday speech.