Breakdown of Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito.
Questions & Answers about Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito.
For here is not the English word for; it’s a Portuguese verb form: the future subjunctive of ser.
- ser (to be) – future subjunctive:
- eu for
- tu fores
- ele/ela/você for
- nós formos
- eles/elas/vocês forem
In European Portuguese, when you talk about a future, uncertain condition with se (if), you normally use the future subjunctive, not the present:
- Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito.
If the agreement is fair, I’m satisfied.
Using Se o acordo é justo sounds wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Portuguese when you’re referring to a future/uncertain situation. The present indicative with se is used for more “timeless” or factual conditions, not hypothetical future ones.
The future subjunctive in Portuguese is a special verb form used mainly for future, uncertain events in clauses introduced by words like:
- se (if)
- quando (when)
- logo que (as soon as)
- assim que (as soon as)
- enquanto (while), etc.
Examples:
- Se eu for a Lisboa, ligo-te.
If I go to Lisbon, I’ll call you. - Quando ele chegar, começamos.
When he arrives, we’ll start. - Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito.
If the agreement is fair, I’m satisfied.
In English, you normally use the present tense in these clauses (if it is, when he arrives), but Portuguese uses the future subjunctive to show that the event is in the future and uncertain.
Both are possible:
- Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito.
- Se o acordo for justo, eu ficarei satisfeito.
The difference is subtle:
- fico satisfeito (present) – often used for:
- general truths / habitual reactions
Whenever the agreement is fair, I’m (always) satisfied. - or a simple, neutral reaction to that condition
- general truths / habitual reactions
- ficarei satisfeito (future) – makes the future feel more explicit and a bit more formal or emphatic:
If the agreement is fair, I will be satisfied.
In everyday speech, Portuguese often uses the present tense in the main clause even when English uses will. So the sentence with fico is very natural.
In Portuguese, ficar often means “to become / to end up / to get” in emotional or physical states:
- ficar feliz – to become happy / to get happy
- ficar cansado – to become tired / to get tired
- ficar satisfeito – to become satisfied / to end up satisfied
In this sentence:
- eu fico satisfeito ≈ “I (end up) satisfied / I become satisfied (in that situation).”
Using other verbs would change the nuance:
- estar satisfeito – focuses more on being in a satisfied state at a particular moment:
- Se o acordo for justo, vou estar satisfeito.
- ser satisfeito is almost never used for people’s emotional state; it would sound strange.
So ficar satisfeito is the natural, idiomatic choice to express a reaction to a condition.
Satisfeito/satisfeita is an adjective, and in Portuguese adjectives must agree in gender and number with the person or thing they refer to.
Here, the adjective refers to eu (I). If the speaker is:
- a man: Eu fico satisfeito.
- a woman: Eu fico satisfeita.
Plural examples:
- A group of only men (or mixed group, grammatically masculine):
Nós ficamos satisfeitos. - A group of only women:
Nós ficamos satisfeitas.
So a female speaker would say:
- Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeita.
Yes. Portuguese is a pro‑drop language, so subject pronouns (eu, tu, ele, etc.) are often omitted because verb endings already show the person.
All of these are correct:
- Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito.
- Se o acordo for justo, fico satisfeito.
Adding eu can emphasize the subject slightly (“I am satisfied (as opposed to someone else)”), but often there is no strong difference in meaning. In neutral, spoken European Portuguese, Fico satisfeito without eu is very natural.
In Portuguese, nouns almost always need a determiner (article, possessive, demonstrative, etc.). So you usually say:
- o acordo – the agreement (specific)
- um acordo – an agreement (non‑specific)
Saying just acordo with no article is normally wrong in this context.
In your sentence:
- Se o acordo for justo…
implies a specific agreement that both speakers have in mind (for example, the one they’re negotiating).
If you wanted to talk more generally, you could say:
- Se um acordo for justo, fico satisfeito.
If an agreement is fair, I’m satisfied.
So you cannot normally drop o here.
Yes, you can:
- Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito.
- Eu fico satisfeito se o acordo for justo.
- Fico satisfeito se o acordo for justo.
All are natural and mean essentially the same.
Small nuances:
- Starting with Se o acordo for justo… puts more emphasis on the condition.
- Starting with (Eu) fico satisfeito… puts a bit more emphasis on the result/reaction.
But in everyday usage, they’re practically interchangeable.
In this structure, yes, a comma is standard when the “if”‑clause comes first:
- Se o acordo for justo, eu fico satisfeito. ✔️
When the main clause comes first, the comma is usually not used:
- Eu fico satisfeito se o acordo for justo. ✔️
- Fico satisfeito se o acordo for justo. ✔️
So:
- [Se‑clause] , [main clause]
- [Main clause] [se‑clause] (normally no comma)
Approximate European Portuguese pronunciation (with stressed syllables in CAPS):
- Se o → often sounds like sô (/su/ or /sɔ/), very quick
- acordo → aCOR‑du (/ɐˈkɔɾ.du/)
- for → /foɾ/ (like “for” in English for, but with a tapped r)
- justo → ZHUS‑tu (/ˈʒuʃ.tu/) – j like French j in jour
- eu → /ew/ (like English ehw)
- fico → FI‑ku (/ˈfi.ku/)
- satisfeito → sə‑tish‑FAY‑tu
More precisely: /sɐ.tiʃˈfɐj.tu/
Spoken quickly in Portugal, a natural version might sound like:
Sô aCORdu for ZHUS‑tu, ew FI‑ku sə‑tish‑FAY‑tu.
Linking and vowel reduction (like se → sə) are very strong in European Portuguese, so many unstressed vowels become a kind of “uh” sound.