Breakdown of Avisa o vizinho antes de chover.
de
of
o vizinho
the neighbor
antes
before
chover
to rain
avisar
to warn
Questions & Answers about Avisa o vizinho antes de chover.
In Avisa o vizinho antes de chover, what form and meaning does avisa have?
Avisa is the affirmative imperative of the verb avisar (“to warn/notify”) for the informal second-person singular tu. In European Portuguese, you drop the final -s from the present-tense form avisas to form the tu imperative, so avisas → avisa (“you, warn…”).
Who is the subject of avisa, and why isn’t it written?
The subject is the pronoun tu (“you”). Portuguese often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already indicates person and number. In an imperative sentence, the addressee is understood without explicitly saying tu.
Why is it o vizinho and not ao vizinho?
The verb avisar is transitive and takes a direct object without a preposition. You “warn someone,” so o vizinho is simply the direct object (“the neighbor”). While some speakers use avisa ao vizinho, it’s more common (and grammatically correct) to say avisa o vizinho.
What does antes de do in this sentence?
Antes de is a compound conjunction meaning “before.” It introduces a subordinate clause and requires the next verb to be in the infinitive form. So antes de chover = “before it rains.”
Why is chover in the infinitive, not a conjugated form like chove or choverá?
After prepositions (here, de in antes de), Portuguese uses the infinitive. Also, weather verbs like chover are impersonal: they naturally appear without a personal subject and often in the infinitive in subordinate phrases.
Why isn’t there a subject before chover?
Chover (“to rain”) is an impersonal verb. In Portuguese, impersonal verbs don’t take a specific subject pronoun. The infinitive chover already carries the meaning “it rains” or “it will rain” in a general sense.
Could I rephrase antes de chover using a different conjunction and mood?
Yes. You can use antes que with the present subjunctive:
- Avisa o vizinho antes que chova.
Here, antes que (“before that”) requires chova, the third-person singular present subjunctive of chover.
Is avisa the only way to say “warn the neighbor,” or could I use avise?
If you’re speaking formally to você (or in a polite 3rd-person sense), you’d use the subjunctive form as an imperative:
- Avise o vizinho antes de chover.
This “você” imperative looks identical to the present subjunctive (ele/ela/você form).
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