Breakdown of A professora pediu para fazermos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo.
Questions & Answers about A professora pediu para fazermos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo.
In European Portuguese, it is very common (and often more natural) to use the definite article o / a / os / as before titles and professions when referring to a specific person:
- A professora = the (specific) teacher
- O João, a Maria, o doutor Silva, a engenheira Marta
So A professora means the teacher (the one both speaker and listener know).
If you just said Professora pediu..., it would sound odd or incomplete in European Portuguese. You normally only drop the article in very specific contexts (like forms, headings, or as a form of address: Professora, pode repetir? = Professor, can you repeat?).
Pediu is the 3rd person singular of pedir in the pretérito perfeito (simple past):
- pedir = to ask, to request
- (ela) pediu = she asked / she requested
So A professora pediu... = The teacher asked (us)....
The pretérito perfeito in Portuguese is usually a finished action in the past. Here it means that at some point in the past, the teacher made this request (for homework or a task).
Yes, you need para here.
In Portuguese, when you use pedir followed by a verb in the infinitive to express what someone is supposed to do, you normally say:
- pedir para + infinitive (or personal infinitive)
So:
- A professora pediu para fazermos um resumo. ✅
- A professora pediu fazermos um resumo. ❌ (incorrect)
Para here links the request to the action that is requested. Think of it roughly as asked (us) *to do...* in English.
Fazermos is the personal infinitive (infinitivo pessoal) of fazer, in the 1st person plural:
- infinitive: fazer = to do / to make
- personal infinitive (1st person plural): fazermos = for us to do / (that) we do
Portuguese has this special form, the infinitivo pessoal, which allows the infinitive to agree with the subject:
- eu fazer → sometimes fazer
- tu fazeres
- ele/ela fazer
- nós fazermos
- vós fazerdes (rare)
- eles/elas fazerem
In para fazermos, the subject is nós (we), even though nós is not written. The meaning is for us to make a short summary...
Yes, you could say:
- A professora pediu para fazer um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo.
But it is less clear who is supposed to do the summaries. Possibilities:
- we (the students)
- she (the teacher)
- someone in general
With para fazermos, it is clearly we (the students) who must do it.
So:
- para fazermos = clearly for us to do (personal infinitive, subject marked)
- para fazer = to do in a more general or ambiguous sense
Teachers usually want to be clear that the students have to do the work, so para fazermos is natural.
Yes, that is also correct, and quite natural:
- A professora pediu que fizéssemos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo.
Here you have:
- pediu que + imperfect subjunctive (fizéssemos)
Both structures are correct in European Portuguese:
- pediu para fazermos (para + personal infinitive)
- pediu que fizéssemos (que + subjunctive)
Differences in feel:
- para fazermos is very common in everyday speech and is straightforwardly interpreted as for us to do it.
- que fizéssemos sounds slightly more formal / literary, but it’s also used in speech.
In many contexts, they are interchangeable.
Grammatically, fazermos is 1st person plural (we). In context, it almost always means:
- we = the students / the class, not including the teacher.
This is because:
- The teacher is the one making the request.
- In school contexts, when a teacher says in Portuguese temos de fazer os exercícios, that can include the teacher (we all have to do the exercises), but when saying ela pediu para fazermos..., everyone understands that we = the students are the ones who must do the homework.
If the teacher wanted to include herself clearly, she might say:
- A professora sugeriu que fizéssemos todos um pequeno resumo...
- Combinámos (todos) fazer um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo.
Both are possible:
- um pequeno resumo
- um resumo pequeno
But there is a nuance in Portuguese adjective position.
Before the noun (as in pequeno resumo) often gives a slightly more subjective, qualitative, or standard feel. Here, it sounds like a short summary in the normal, almost fixed expression sense (a brief summary, not a long one).
After the noun (resumo pequeno) can sound a bit more contrastive or descriptive, like you’re emphasising size as a distinguishing property:
- a summary that is small (as opposed to a bigger one).
In practice, um pequeno resumo is the more common, natural order for this expression, especially in instructions like homework tasks.
Both are possible, but they express slightly different relationships:
um resumo de cada capítulo
- Literally: a summary *of each chapter*
- Implies the summary condenses the content of the chapter. This is the usual collocation: resumo de algo (summary of something).
um resumo sobre cada capítulo
- Literally: a summary *about each chapter*
- Sounds more like a short text *about each chapter*, maybe with opinions or commentary, not necessarily a pure condensation of its content.
For standard schoolwork, resumo de cada capítulo is the default and most idiomatic.
In European Portuguese, the most natural version is:
- A professora pediu-nos para fazermos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo.
Key points:
- In European Portuguese, object pronouns normally attach to the verb (after a main verb in affirmative sentences):
- pediu-nos, deu-nos, explicou-nos
In Brazilian Portuguese, the pronoun usually goes before the verb:
- A professora nos pediu para fazermos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo. (more Brazilian style)
So:
- EP: pediu-nos para fazermos...
- BP: nos pediu para fazermos...
It does both kinds of work at once:
It is part of the standard way Portuguese expresses what someone is asked to do after pedir:
- pedir para + infinitive / personal infinitive
Semantically, para + infinitive often expresses purpose (in order to), and that nuance is still there in the background:
- She asked (us) *for us to make a short summary…*
- = She made this request so that we would make a short summary…
But in this sentence, speakers mainly perceive it as the normal grammar of “asking someone to do something”, not as a separate, explicit “in order to” clause.
Yes, that is natural:
- A professora pediu que fizéssemos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo, cada um o seu.
or with the infinitive structure:
- A professora pediu para fazermos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo, cada um o seu.
Both are fine.
- cada um o seu = each one (does) their own (summary).
This clarifies that each student must write their own summary, not one group summary.
A rough approximation (Lisbon / central Portugal accent):
- A professora pediu para fazermos um pequeno resumo de cada capítulo.
Approximate in English-like sounds (stressed syllables in CAPS):
- Ah pruh-fuh-SO-ruh p’DIU puh-RAH fah-ZER-mooz oong p’KEE-noo heh-ZOO-moo d’KEH-dah kah-PEE-tloo.
Notes:
- A professora → the first a is weak, almost like uh.
- pediu → p’DIU (the initial e is reduced).
- para → often p’RA in fast speech.
- Final -o in capítulo is often a bit closer to oo than English oh.