Breakdown of Podem alargar estes sapatos?
Questions & Answers about Podem alargar estes sapatos?
Podem is the 3rd-person plural of poder and addresses more than one person (like shop staff) or a group you’re speaking to. Pode is the singular form, used when you’re addressing one person politely. In a shop, both are common:
- One clerk: Pode alargar estes sapatos?
- Several staff / addressing the shop as a team: Podem alargar estes sapatos?
Yes, it’s polite, especially if you add a courtesy phrase. Options:
- Pode/Podem alargar estes sapatos, por favor?
- Pode/Podem alargar estes sapatos, se faz favor? (very common in Portugal)
- Softer via tense: Podiam/Podiam alargar estes sapatos? or more formal Poderiam/Poderiam alargar estes sapatos?
No. Alargar is transitive here and takes a direct object:
- alargar estes sapatos (correct) No preposition is required.
Yes. You can say:
- Podem alargá-los? When attaching -los to an infinitive ending in -r, Portuguese drops the -r and adds an accent to keep the stress: alargar → alargá-los.
Both placements are accepted in European Portuguese:
- More idiomatic: Podem alargar-me os sapatos?
- Also heard: Podem-me alargar os sapatos? If you want to use a possessive instead: Podem alargar os meus sapatos? (in Portugal, possessives commonly take the article: os meus).
It’s perfect. Portuguese forms yes/no questions with normal word order plus rising intonation and a question mark:
- Podem alargar estes sapatos? No inversion or auxiliary is needed.
In European Portuguese:
- este/estes = near the speaker (you’re holding or pointing at them near you)
- esse/esses = near the listener (the clerk is holding them)
- aquele/aqueles = far from both So if the clerk has the shoes in hand, Esses sapatos would be more precise. In practice, people sometimes relax this distinction, but it’s good to know.
Yes. Sapatos is masculine plural, so the demonstrative must be masculine plural: estes sapatos. Examples:
- estas botas (feminine plural)
- este sapato (masculine singular)
Use the singular and, if needed, specify left or right:
- Pode/Podem alargar este sapato?
- Pode/Podem alargar o sapato direito/esquerdo?
Pode/Podem can express permission or possibility, but in service contexts it’s a standard polite request. Alternatives:
- Consegue/Conseguem alargar estes sapatos? (ability-focused, also polite)
- É possível alargar estes sapatos? (impersonal, very polite)
Any of these are fine:
- Por favor, podem alargar estes sapatos?
- Podem alargar estes sapatos, por favor?
- Podem, por favor, alargar estes sapatos?
Use a diminutive or softener:
- Podem alargar estes sapatos um bocadinho? (a little)
- Será que podem alargar estes sapatos? (hedged)
- Se for possível, podem alargar estes sapatos? (very polite)
- eu posso
- tu podes
- ele/ela/o senhor/a senhora pode
- nós podemos
- vocês/eles/elas podem In Portugal, for polite singular you typically use the 3rd person (pode) with no explicit subject: Pode… (implied o senhor/a senhora).
Mainly in demonstratives and politeness conventions:
- You’ll often hear Vocês podem alargar esses sapatos? (they use vocês more, and esses more broadly)
- Possessives often drop the article in Brazil: meus sapatos vs Portugal’s os meus sapatos. Your original sentence is perfect European Portuguese.