Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Quem chegar primeiro guarda um lugar para os outros. - Whoever arrives first saves a seat for the others.

In Portuguese, when you refer to a future or uncertain event in a clause introduced by words like quando, se, quem, onde, etc., you often use the future subjunctive (futuro do conjuntivo), not the present indicative.

Quem chegar primeiro… = Whoever happens to arrive first (in the future)
Quem chega primeiro… = Whoever (usually / habitually) arrives first (more like a general fact, not one specific future occasion)

Here, the idea is: “On this specific occasion in the future, whoever arrives first will save a place.”

So quem chegar is more natural and precise than quem chega in this context.

What tense/mood is chegar here?

Chegar in quem chegar primeiro is in the future subjunctive (futuro do conjuntivo).

For the verb chegar, the future subjunctive is:

eu chegar
tu chegares
ele/ela/você chegar
nós chegarmos
vós chegardes
eles/elas/vocês chegarem

The form for eu and ele/ela/você is just chegar (no ending change), which is why it looks like the infinitive, but it’s a different form.

You typically see this tense after:

se: Se eu chegar cedo, ligo-te.
quando: Quando eles chegarem, começamos.
quem: Quem chegar primeiro guarda um lugar.

Why is it quem chegar primeiro guarda and not guardam? Doesn’t “whoever arrives first” mean possibly more than one person?

Grammatically, quem is singular in Portuguese, even though in meaning it can refer to one or more people.

Because of that, the verb that follows quem is in the 3rd person singular:

Quem chegar primeiro guarda um lugar.
(not guardam)

Other examples:

Quem quiser pode sair mais cedo. (not quiserem / podem)
Quem telefonar deixa recado.

So even if in real life there could be several people “who arrive first” across different occasions, the grammar treats quem as singular and keeps the verb singular.

Why is chegar in the future subjunctive but guarda is just present tense?

Because the two verbs are doing different jobs:

chegar in quem chegar primeiro:
This part expresses a future, uncertain condition (“whoever ends up arriving first”). That triggers the future subjunctive.
guarda in guarda um lugar para os outros:
This is the main clause, giving a rule/instruction that applies whenever that condition is met. Portuguese commonly uses the present indicative for:
- general rules
- instructions
- scheduled or future events

So:

Quem chegar primeiro guarda um lugar…
= Whenever / if someone ends up being the first to arrive, that person saves a place.

You could theoretically say guardará (will save), but guarda is more natural and sounds like a standing rule rather than a one-off prediction.

Could this be an imperative, like “Whoever arrives first, save a place for the others”?

Functionally, yes, it acts like an instruction, but grammatically it's not in the imperative. It’s a common structure in Portuguese:

Quem chegar primeiro guarda um lugar.
= “The one who arrives first saves a place.” (rule / instruction phrased as a general statement)

A more explicitly imperative version would be:

Quem chegar primeiro, que guarde um lugar para os outros.
(Let whoever arrives first save a place for the others.)

But in normal speech, people prefer the simpler, rule-like statement with the present indicative: guarda.

What does guardar um lugar mean exactly? Is it like “reserve a place”?

Yes, guardar um lugar is an everyday way to say “save / keep a seat” or “hold a spot” for someone.

Literal meanings of guardar include:

to keep
to store
to put away
to look after
to guard

In this specific expression:

guardar um lugar (para alguém) =
to save a seat / hold a place (for someone)

More formal or context-specific options:

reservar um lugar – to book/reserve a place (e.g. at a restaurant, theatre)
marcar lugar (in some contexts) – to mark a place

In casual situations among friends (bus, lecture hall, cinema), guardar lugar is the natural choice.

Why is it um lugar and not um assento?

Both lugar and assento can relate to where you sit, but they’re used differently:

lugar is more general:
- place / spot / position
- in many contexts, it’s the common word for a seat
assento is more literal/physical:
- the actual seat as an object (chair, bench space, seat in a car/plane)
- often sounds more technical or formal

In everyday speech:

Guardar um lugar para ti. – I’ll save you a place.
(most natural)

You could say guardar um assento, and it’s understandable, but lugar is much more common in this type of sentence.

Why is it para os outros and not para outros or something else?

All of these exist, but the meanings/naturalness change slightly:

para os outros
= for the others (a specific group: the rest of us / them)
This fits very well if we already know who “the others” are (the rest of the group that’s coming).
para outros (without os)
= for other people (more vague and less specific)
It’s not wrong, but here it would sound a bit less natural because we usually mean “the rest of the group”, not some random “other” people.
para os demais
= for the rest / for the remaining (more formal)

So para os outros is the most natural choice when you mean “for the others (in our group)”.

Could we replace para os outros with aos outros?

No, that would not be natural here.

The typical structure is:

guardar algo para alguém – save/keep something for someone

Examples:

Guardei um bolo para ti. – I saved a cake for you.
Guarda um lugar para os outros. – Save a place for the others.

Aos outros combines a + os and is normally used with verbs that take a as the preposition (e.g., dar algo a alguém).

With guardar (algo) in the sense of “save (something) for someone”, the correct preposition is para, not a.

So:
✅ guardar um lugar para os outros
❌ guardar um lugar aos outros

Why is it chegar primeiro and not chegar o primeiro?

Because here primeiro works as an adverb (modifying how they arrive: “arrive first”), not as a noun.

chegar primeiro = to arrive first (adverbial use)
o primeiro = the first one (noun phrase)

Compare:

Quem chegar primeiro guarda um lugar.
Whoever arrives first saves a place.
O primeiro que chegar guarda um lugar.
The first person who arrives saves a place.

Both are correct, but the structure in your sentence uses primeiro adverbially, so there’s no article (o).

Could I say Quem chega primeiro guarda um lugar para os outros instead?

Yes, it’s grammatically correct, but the nuance shifts.

Quem chegar primeiro… (future subjunctive)
Emphasises a specific future / hypothetical event:
On this occasion, whoever ends up arriving first…
Quem chega primeiro… (present indicative)
Sounds more like a general habit or rule about what usually happens, without focusing on a single future occasion.

In many everyday contexts, people might still use quem chega primeiro and be understood as talking about a future event, but quem chegar primeiro is the more “textbook correct” and typical choice when you clearly mean a future situation.

Is this sentence more European Portuguese or Brazilian, or is it neutral?

The sentence Quem chegar primeiro guarda um lugar para os outros. is perfectly natural in both European Portuguese (PT-PT) and Brazilian Portuguese (PT-BR).

Small differences you might notice in real life:

In Brazil, people might colloquially say pra instead of para:
- …guarda um lugar pros outros. (para os → pros)
In Portugal, para and para os are more typically pronounced as written, though in fast speech para can sound closer to pra as well.

But grammatically and lexically, this exact sentence is standard and neutral in both varieties.