Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto, vamos rever o plano antigo. - Before we start the new project, we are going to review the old plan.

Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto, vamos rever o plano antigo.

Before we start the new project, we are going to review the old plan.

Breakdown of Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto, vamos rever o plano antigo.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Portuguese grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Portuguese now

Questions & Answers about Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto, vamos rever o plano antigo.

Why is there a de after antes: Antes de nós começarmos?

In Portuguese, when antes is followed by a verb in the infinitive, it almost always takes de: antes de + infinitive (or personal infinitive).

Antes de começarmos… = Before (we) start…
Antes de sair… = Before leaving…

If you omit the de, it sounds wrong: ✗ Antes nós começarmos is not correct here.

There is another structure with antes que + subjunctive:

Antes que nós comecemos o novo projeto…

This is grammatically correct but:

Antes de + infinitive is more common when the subject of both verbs is the same.
Antes que + subjunctive appears more when the subjects are different or in more formal/literary language.

What verb form is começarmos? Why not just começar?

Começarmos is the personal infinitive (infinitivo pessoal).

Portuguese has two kinds of infinitive:

Impersonal infinitive: começar (no subject marking)
- Antes de começar o novo projeto… (Before starting the new project…) – the subject is understood from context.
Personal infinitive: começar
- endings that mark the subject
- eu começar
- tu começares
- ele/ela/você começar
- nós começarmos
- vós começardes
- eles/elas/vocês começarem

So começarmos literally means for us to start or our starting.

In this sentence, Antes de nós começarmos… makes the subject nós very explicit. You could also say:

Antes de começarmos o novo projeto… (still personal infinitive; nós is just omitted)
Antes de começar o novo projeto… (impersonal infinitive; grammatically possible, but less clear about who is starting)

All three are acceptable, but Antes de (nós) começarmos is the clearest way to say before we start.

Do we really need nós? Can I say Antes de começarmos o novo projeto without it?

Yes, you can drop nós:

Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto…
Antes de começarmos o novo projeto… ✅

Portuguese is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

Here, começarmos already tells you it’s we who are starting, so nós is optional, not required.

Including nós can:

add emphasis (we, not someone else),
or just sound a bit more deliberate/slower in style.

In everyday speech, Antes de começarmos o novo projeto is very natural.

Is começarmos a future tense like “we will start,” or something else?

Grammatically, começarmos here is not a future tense; it’s the personal infinitive (see above).

However, in meaning, the whole clause Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto refers to a future time:

Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto, vamos rever o plano antigo.
= Before we start the new project (in the future), we will review the old plan.

In Portuguese, time clauses introduced by words like antes de, depois de, quando, assim que, etc. usually do not use the future tense in the subordinate clause. They use:

present (in some constructions), or
infinitive / personal infinitive, or
future subjunctive (after certain conjunctions like quando, se, enquanto).

So even though the action is future, the verb form in that clause isn’t a future tense. The future meaning comes from the context and from vamos rever in the main clause.

Why does the sentence use vamos rever instead of a simple future like reveremos?

Both are grammatically correct:

Vamos rever o plano antigo.
Reveremos o plano antigo.

Differences:

Frequency / naturalness
- Vamos + infinitive is much more common in everyday Portuguese (both in Portugal and Brazil) to talk about future actions.
- The “synthetic” future (reveremos) is more formal, written, or slightly old-fashioned in speech.
Tone
- Vamos rever sounds more conversational and natural, like English “we’re going to review” or “let’s review” depending on context.
- Reveremos sounds more formal or emphatic, like “we shall review”.

In this sentence, vamos rever is the most idiomatic choice in European Portuguese for normal spoken and written usage.

What exactly does rever mean here? Is it “review”, “revise”, or “see again”?

Rever literally means “to see again” (re- + ver). Its common meanings include:

To review / check over again
- Vamos rever o plano antigo.
  = Let’s review / go over the old plan again.
To revise (in the sense of checking and possibly changing a text or plan)
- Rever um contrato, um texto, um plano.
To see someone again
- Gostava de te rever. = I’d like to see you again.

In this sentence, rever o plano antigo naturally means:

to go over, review, or re-examine the previous plan
before starting the new project, possibly with the idea of learning from it or adjusting it.

In European Portuguese, rever is very common in this sense. The verb revisar also exists but is more often used for correcting text, proofreading, or in formal/technical contexts.

Why do we have o novo projeto and o plano antigo? Could we omit o, like in English “before we start new project”?

In Portuguese, definite articles (o, a, os, as) are used more often than in English.

Here:

o novo projeto = the new project
o plano antigo = the old plan

You cannot normally say:

✗ Antes de começarmos novo projeto… (sounds wrong)
✗ …vamos rever plano antigo.

In most cases, a singular countable noun like projeto or plano needs:

an article (o, um),
a demonstrative (este, esse, aquele),
or a possessive (meu, nosso, etc.).

So the articles here are required and natural:

Antes de começarmos o novo projeto, vamos rever o plano antigo.

Is there any difference between o novo projeto and o projeto novo?

Yes, there is a nuance, although both can be correct.

o novo projeto (adjective before the noun)
- Very common, neutral: the new project.
- Emphasis on the idea of “new” as in “next, latest one, not the previous one.”
o projeto novo (adjective after the noun)
- Can also mean the project is new, but in many contexts the post‑position of novo can imply:
  - new in contrast to old,
  - newly created, freshly made.

In many everyday contexts, o novo projeto and o projeto novo are interchangeable, but:

o novo projeto is the usual, default way to say the new project (a new phase, a new initiative).

In your sentence, o novo projeto sounds more natural.

Is there a difference between plano antigo and antigo plano?

Yes, here word order changes the meaning more clearly.

o plano antigo (adjective after the noun)
- Usually: the old plan, old in age; the plan from before.
- In your sentence: the previous/old plan (the one we had before the new project).
o antigo plano (adjective before the noun)
- Typically: the former plan, the previous plan we used to have, regardless of its physical age.
- Very often used for things that no longer hold:
  - o antigo chefe = the former boss (not your boss anymore)
  - a antiga casa = the house you used to live in, not the current one

In this context, both could work, but:

o plano antigo sounds like “the old plan (as opposed to the new plan)”.
o antigo plano slightly emphasizes “the plan we used to have, which is no longer current.”

Your sentence with o plano antigo is perfectly natural and clear.

Could we use velho instead of antigo, like o plano velho?

You could, but it changes the nuance and is less natural in this specific context.

antigo = old, former, previous, often more neutral/polite.
- o plano antigo = the old/previous plan (before the current one).
velho = old, but more about being aged, worn, possibly negative or affectionate depending on context.
- um carro velho = an old (probably run‑down) car.
- um amigo velho can mean a long‑time friend or just “old friend,” depending on word order.

O plano velho would sound more like:

“the old, possibly outdated/worn‑out plan,” and can carry a slightly negative tone.

To talk about a previous plan in a neutral way, Portuguese prefers plano antigo, not plano velho.

Why is there a comma before vamos rever? Are commas used like in English with “before…” clauses?

Yes, in this case, comma use is very similar to English.

You have:

Antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto, → subordinate time clause
vamos rever o plano antigo. → main clause

In Portuguese, when a sentence begins with an introductory clause (especially with conjunctions like antes de, quando, se, porque, etc.), it is normal to separate it with a comma:

Quando chegarmos, ligamos para ti.
Se chover, ficamos em casa.
Antes de começarmos, vamos rever o plano.

If you invert the order, the comma is usually omitted:

Vamos rever o plano antigo antes de nós começarmos o novo projeto.

So the comma in your sentence is correct and expected.

Is the pronunciation of começarmos and rever in European Portuguese different from Brazilian Portuguese? How do I say them?

Yes, there are differences, especially in vowel quality and the final -r.

Very roughly (European Portuguese):

começarmos ≈ ku-mə-SAR-moosh
- co = like “kuh” but shorter
- me often reduced to a very short mə
- çar = sar with a clear s sound
- final -mos often sounds like -moosh / -mush in fast speech
rever ≈ rə-VER
- first re- = reduced, like rə
- ver = like “vair” but shorter, and the final r is often pronounced as a guttural [ʁ] or [ɾ] depending on the accent; in many European accents it’s quite audible.

Compared to Brazilian Portuguese:

vowels in unstressed syllables are generally more reduced in European Portuguese,
the final -r in rever is more strongly pronounced in European Portuguese (while in much of Brazil it can be weaker or slightly aspirated).

These are approximations, but they give you a basic idea of the sound.